Interactive Display – Mr Potato Head and World’s Greatest Shave

Each March, our school participates in the World’s Greatest Shave to raise funds to fight cancer. It has become a school-wide celebration, with free-dress day, crazy hair day, sausage sizzles, bake stands, and of course the hair shaving. To promote these events and become more involved, the library posted this Mr Potato Head display in the week leading up to Shave Day. It has been one of our most popular displays to date (just shy of the Blind Date With a Book display).

The first step was to collect a range of photo booth prop images, including hats, hairdos, glasses, moustaches and accessories. I then found some free Mr Potato Head cutout templates from Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, which gave me shoes, arms, and nose that I was able to modify and enlarge. I cut all the shapes using a Cricut cutting machine, but you could easily print and cut them yourself. I free-handed the potato shape. Once all the shapes were laminated, I used sticky hook and loop tape so that the shapes would be easy to repetitively adhere and remove from the display board.

The students (old and young alike) have really loved playing with Mr (or Mrs) Potato Head. The range of books on display nearby ranged from non-fiction hair styling books to picture books and novels about haircuts, wondrous hair or cancer. It has been a popular book display, with quick turnover.