The Creative Counselor: Mr. Potato Head Dresses for Success

It is Career month at my school. We typically focus on Careers through Classroom Guidance and conclude the focus with a Career Week where we have a Dress-up Day, Vehicle Day for the younger students, and Career Speaker Day for the older students. This year I made an interactive bulletin board to get the kids thinking about career exploration.

I'm not sure how many Potato Heads I have around my house, but I got to thinking...I love how Mr. Potato Head has increased his wardrobe over the years. I think of the many different hair pieces and accessories we have such as Pirate Potato Head or Spider Spud. We just may have more Potato outfits than Barbie outfits!

As I pondered about playing with Mr. Potato Head, I came up with an interactive, dress Mr. Potato Head in a Career Outfit Bulletin Board!

I started by cutting out a basic Mr. Potato Head figure out of brown construction paper. I just drew these free hand. Then I cut out the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, mustache and hands and attached them all to the Potato body. Next I cut out three different pairs of boots - brown, black, and white; as well as, one pair of flippers. I decided to dress Mr. Potato Head with different career hats. Each career also has one tool that they use. For instance you could dress Mr. Potato Head as a Magician by giving him a top hat and a magic wand.

I made three suitcases and labeled them: Work Hats, Work Tools, and Work Boots. After having all the pieces laminated, I attached velcro dots to the back of the individual pieces and stored them in their appropriate suitcase. Now Mr. Potato Head has interchangeable career outfits! I came up with the following Career Hats and Career Tools/Hand-held objects: