For children of both sexes, whether well or not so well, the lowly potato offers a practical basic "body" upon which can be built up fanciful and often highly realistic animals and sprites, whose types and silhouettes are limited only by the imaginations of their creators' small fingers. In fact potato "sculpture" will prove an excellent introduction to plasticene clay modeling, because it automatically requires the recognition of a basic body type on which to build.

Toothpicks, burnt wooden matches, lollipop sticks, orange crate splinters, bobby pins, and pencil or crayon stubs are some of the handy materials available for legs, arms, and necks, with pipe cleaners, bits of cord or yarn, or twisted wire hairpins for exotic tails. Small potatoes toothpicked to the upper ends of large potatoes, make bulbous heads for large animals, while the smaller fauna may rejoice in heads fabricated from peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, or walnuts. If blobs of damp dough are made available to the small artisans, elementary modeling techniques can be encouraged.

The shapes of the various potatoes will usually inspire the type of animal or gnome to be undertaken; and, when several children are engaged in production, a prize may be offered for the most lifelike, or the most fanciful or interesting creation. For example, short pieces of toothpicks studding the back of a medium-sized potato provided with four legs, will cause it to be easily recognizable as the Friendly Porcupine. A smaller potato which has been provided with an erect, pipe cleaner tail, two tiny pointed paper ears, and bristling whisk broom whiskers, can either be equipped with a king to look at, paper seven league boots, or a paper fiddle and an orange moon to jump over. Again, a plump potato sitting erect upon an empty box or a book, when fitted with a round walnut head and ineffectual arms made from bent soda straws, will make a familiar Humpty Dumpty, especially if his features are inked or crayoned in place. Someone will probably roll up a paper dunce cap for Humpty, which may excite the feminine contingent into creating tissue or paper napkin clothes for other potato puppets. And so it goes.