- This activity, which takes around 10-15 minutes, introduces students to object-oriented principles.
- It can also be a great icebreaker on the first day of class by having students introduce themselves through their unique Mr. Potato Head character.
- Partner Activity:
- Split students into pairs.
- Have these pairs of students make:
- a potato head character.
- a list describing what it is, what characteristics it has, and what it can do.
- Group Activity:
- After completing the partner activity, have students list the characteristics and actions of their Mr. Potato Head out loud to the class while you write these on the board.
- You’ll want to write characteristics on one section of the board and actions in different section.
- Once students finish sharing
- write PROPERTIES above the characteristics and
- write METHODS above actions.
- Explain that their Mr. Potato Head character is an object.
- This object is created from a class that gives the basics of a potato head.
- Use these ideas to connect object oriented concepts to their Mr. Potato Head.
- Mr. Potato Head toys are a class
- A student's finished potato head is an object.
- Big shoes, wild hair, big eyes, clown nose, are properties.
- Tells jokes, honks nose, etc. are methods.
- If you don’t have the physical toy you can use an online Mr. Potato Head.
- For example: http://mostplays.com/play/Mrpotato_head_21478
- You could also use Playdough and cookie cutters instead of Mr. Potato Head.