A few years ago I was greenhouse shopping, and some leafy sweet potato vines caught my attention. The sales clerk suggested that the leaves looked like dinosaur footprints.
That thought always stuck with me, and this spring I made a special point to purchase two uniquely colored sweet potato vines to add contrast to the flowering plants on my deck. I also had plans to feature a few of the leaves in some dinosaur themed activities.
It’s now early September, and my sweet potato vines are luscious. Our growing season is near done, so I feel okay about snipping a few leaves off the plants (without compromising each plant’s look). Here’s some activities to do:
Dinosaur Themed Small World
Include some sweet potato vine leaves in a dinosaur themed sensory tub. Rocks, plastic and marble eggs, and blue water complete the scene.
Painted Dinosaur T-Rex Footprints
Have children paint one side of cut leaves with poster paints. Have them press the leaves on paper to make T-Rex dinosaur footprints. I used bronze and silver tempera paints with the red leaved vine for this activity.
Sorting T-Rex Footprint Shaped Leaves
Have children sort leaves into alike and different. Other similar shaped leaves, i.e. large passion flower leaves (shown below) can be included in the activity.
