Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head - Teach body awareness with a potato.

Mrs. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head has been on the market since 1952 and was the first toy advertised on TV. Still popular today, Mr. Potato Head has come in many forms - Play-doh, seasonal, popular characters, small to quite large, stuffed - and there is also a Mrs. Potato Head. 

Mr. Potato Head is basically a potato that you add body parts to, so a fun place to start building body awareness. The potato itself is a hard, smooth plastic and many of the bigger ones have a door that pulls open in the back where you can store the pieces. Because the potato is wide and smooth, you might want to start with a smaller version for small hands to grasp. There are eight holes and one slot in the larger version that I own. The holes are for arms, eyes (one piece), ears, mouth/teeth, mustaches, hats/hair, and the slot in the bottom is for the feet (one piece). The small head has only four holes and two slots. There are only two holes on the face as the eyes and nose are one piece, and only one hole on each side of the head, for ears OR arms. The two slots are top and bottom for feet and hat. 

A drawback if you are teaching body parts with this toy is that it doesn't have legs, only feet. Once the feet are in place it will stand on its own. Different sets have different variations of pieces (I have also seen earrings), so you can have quite a collection if you have two or three sets. I have a police officer's hat and a fire fighter's helmet, and can incorporate these into play about community helpers. It doesn't take much strength to push the pieces in, but they still stay in place. A good two-handed activity because you must hold the body while you are adding the pieces. 

Try this:

• Use it to teach five senses: touch, taste, hearing, seeing, smelling.
• Build 3D models from 2D models. Dress him up in different ways and take a picture of each. Present the pictures one at a time and let the individual build each one.
• Call out each body part to add.
• Let the child point to a hole and tell you which body part goes there. Then you pass him a piece to place.
• Use a big blob of Play-doh for the body to add a different sensory component and more of a strength component (for molding and pushing in pieces).
• Play a game. Make a chart showing or naming each body piece corresponding to a number that can be thrown with dice - use either 1-6 or 1-12. Throw the dice and then add that part. If you already have it either skip a turn or keep throwing until you get something you need. Don't forget to cup the hand before adding the dice.
• Use several different plastic containers and sort - Arms in one, ears in another, etc.
• Allow the individual to build in whatever sequence he wants, but ask him to name each body part as it picks it up.
• Use positional and spatial terms, such as what goes on the bottom, put on the left arm, what is in the middle between the eyes and the mouth.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, spatial relations, eye-hand coordination, palmar arch development, strength, fine motor precision, coordinated use of both hands, body awareness, parts of the body, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation 

In the case: Potato, 2 pairs of eyes, 3 noses, 6 arms, 6 ears, 2 hats, 4 mustaches, 4 mouths, 2 tongues, 1 pair of pants with shoes, 2 pairs of eyeglasses, 1 earring, and 1 microphone

If you are interested in purchasing this or just want more information, click on the image below. 

Who's Got the Button?

Practice sequencing with pattern cards & buttons.

 

  In the box: 16 cards (32 patterns), 48 buttons, 1 answer key card, instruction sheet with additional ideas

 
Who's Got the Button has been renamed, because the name on my box is Box of Buttons. It's available on the Discount School Supplies website.

The plastic buttons are 2.5" in diameter and they come in the four colors you see above. The shapes are triangle, hexagon, oval, square and circle. All buttons have four holes.

The two-sided, laminated cards are 15" long and 4" wide. Each card has six spaces for buttons. Some will show the actual button and you place the same button on top. Other spaces show question marks and you finish the pattern by adding the correct buttons. The patterns are graded and color coded into four difficulty levels.

• Level 1 - 8 patterns - All AB patterns. One or two question marks on 6 cards. Seventh card shows six question marks (red, green, red, green, grey, green). Eighth card shows six question marks (blue, yellow, blue, yellow, blue, grey).
• Level 2 - 9 patterns - AB, ABB, ABC. One or two question marks per card.
• Level 3 - 10 patterns - AB, ABB, ABC. One or two question marks per card.
• Level 4 - 5 patterns  - ABB, ABC - The next to last pattern shows only the first button and the rest grey question marks. The last pattern shows all grey question marks and you make up your own pattern.

All patterns are by both shape and color. 

Try this:

• Cover all the buttons behind the one you are working on if the individual has trouble keeping track of where he is working.
• Lay the buttons all flat, not piled, for picking up off a flat surface.
• Pile the buttons so parts are hidden to work on visual form constancy and figure ground.
• Sort the buttons into piles by color or by shape (or both).
• Emphasize the pattern by reading it aloud and pausing after each sequence. For instance green blue - pause - green blue - pause - green blue - pause.
• Put the buttons in a bag so they can't be seen. Call out a shape and ask the individual to put his hand in the bag, feel the buttons and pull out one of that shape. Or ask the individual to put his hand into the bag and pull out all the squares he can find, or three squares, etc. Or ask the individual to put his hand in the bag, feel a button, and tell what shape it is before pulling it out to check.
• Skip the cards and make a long line of buttons with your own sequence and only one attribute, like square circle square circle, omitting the color.
• Place one button upside-down in the individual's palm. Ask him to flip it right-side-up, in-hand, before placing. Continue for the whole sequence.
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual form constancy, sequencing, manual dexterity, fine motor precision, in-hand manipulation, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation