Do you love the farmers’ market as much as I do? If so, you are going to adore this fun afternoon stamping project. You can use vegetables (or fruits) you probably already have around the house to make companion totes that you and your favorite little veg-lover can take anywhere.
Guaranteed to provoke lots of “oohs,” “ahh’s,” and “aww’s” from other local shoppers.
Use the links below to jump straight to this article’s specific topic of interest…
Kids have a ball seeing how different vegetables look stamped, laying out their own pattern, and picking out colors, and it’s a wonderful introduction to basic kitchen skills. We even have a couple of printable templates for stencils if you want to get clever with words, as we did.
My friend’s daughter came over to make her own tote, and we had the best time experimenting with our stamps! She is incredibly proud of her special handmade market tote and couldn’t wait to take it out for a “test run” last night!
To make your own vegetable-stamped DIY farmers market tote bags, you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- 1 or 2 (or more!) tote bags – I like these for the adult-sized heavier totes
- Assorted vegetables or fruits for stamping – these are our favorites for stamping:
- Carrots
- Radishes
- Green Beans or Snow Peas
- Baby Artichokes
- Oranges
- Lemons or Limes
- Strawberries
- Fabric paints in assorted colors (we used this brand for bright, machine-washable colors – you can use this set instead if you prefer to buy an assortment of colors in a pack!)
- A foam brush and/or assorted paintbrushes
OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
- Our farmers market tote free stencil templates
- (1) or (2) sheets of 8.5 x 11 heavy cardstock to print templates on
- An X-Acto knife to cut out template designs
Before you begin, make sure you have washed and ironed your tote bags – it will make stamping or painting in the templates so much easier.
To prep, smock up (hands get messy), lay out some scrap paper for test printing + towels for cleanup, and cut a few vegetables in half lengthwise. We squeezed a little of each of our paints on their own plastic container or lid (the kind you get from a deli, etc., works well) and laid out a few foam brushes and regular paint brushes.
How to Make Stamped Farmers Market Totes with Kids – DIY Instructions:
Follow our step-by-step guide on creating vegetable-stamped farmers’ market tote bags for a fun and eco-friendly activity to make with your kids.
Wash and cut vegetables in half.
We thought carrots, radishes, artichokes, and green beans would give us a fun variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. After the fact, I wished we had used baby artichokes (the larger ones were hard to stamp), but we had a ton of fun experimenting anyway! Lemons, oranges, and strawberries work out well too!
Brush with paint and practice stamping on newsprint.
We did some practice stamping on pieces of newsprint and liked them so much we decided to do more on drawing paper!
The vegetable stamping alone could definitely be its own activity – like this variation with paper and ink from the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Lay out a pattern on your tote with the cut vegetables.
You don’t have to do this, but we decided it would be helpful to play around with the cut vegetables and layout our final design (perfectionist in the house…).
Begin stamping on your tote.
We used a foam brush to brush paint directly onto our stamps, but you can also put your paint in a dish and dip it if it’s easier. Once you have your stamp face down on the canvas, gently push it down from top to bottom to ensure it has been completely stamped. Once you have the hang of it, stamp away!
Let dry for 30 minutes, then add details.
Once you’ve made your pattern, let it dry for about 30 minutes, then you can go back and add some decoration if you’d like. We wanted to keep it simple but thought adding some little cut stems for color would be fun.
Using a small paintbrush, we just dipped it into the fabric paint and brushed some on.
OPTIONAL: Stamp or stencil the other side.
Asa really wanted to have both sides decorated, so we waited about an hour (the fabric paint actually soaks in and sets pretty quickly) then we flipped the bag over and prepared our stencil. If you want to do the same, download the free templates linked in our supply lists (or make your own!).
Using an X-Acto knife, I cut out the design, then we VERY carefully painted in the stencil with a brush. When trying to stencil with fabric paint, it worked best to tape it down with thick tape and blot your foam or paintbrush often as you’re working (so the paint doesn’t build up and squish under the stencil). Â After our stencil paint had set, we stamped some more vegetables to fill in.
Before you use your farmers market bag, make sure you thoroughly let the paint dry. We did a little finger-dry test to see if she could safely carry it around last night, and amazingly, our paints had set and dried within a few hours.
This is so dependent on the type of tote you use and the paints you have, though. The best thing to do is to consult the directions on the fabric paints for appropriate drying times (typically, 24 hours is a reasonable amount of time to let fabric paint dry, in my experience).
To be safe, wait at least another 48-72 hours to wash them – and if you can’t handwash, turn your tote inside out, wash on the gentle cycle, and let air dry.
Ways to Use Your Veggie-Stamped DIY Totes for Food Learning and Play
Learn more about food.
Colors, types of fruits and vegetables, plant parts…there’s so much to learn about the food and produce we eat (and stamp with)! I found a fantastic resource in this farmers market educator’s guide from Storey that I keep as a reference for informative food lessons and kitchen work.
Use your stamped tote bags for dramatic play.
Our set of hand-stamped totes is the perfect accessory for farm market dramatic play. We regularly set out our DIY cardboard market food in small crates, cartons, and baskets, then open up shop for grocery play. Making lists, adding quantities, counting money – many practical lessons are packed in this fun play setup!
Take your DIY market tote bag shopping!
Beyond the DIY, this activity was a fun way to get kids excited about hitting the farmers market to pick out their favorite fresh produce – so take it out for a spin to the real thing. This list of ways to make the farmers market fun for kids (via ECOlunchbox) is the perfect prep for actual visits.
Use your farmers market bag to collect produce from your own garden.
Creating a garden space for children and helping them grow their own produce is an excellent hands-on learning experience. If you’ve started your own vegetable, flower, fruit, or herb garden, include them in the process by having them harvest fresh produce (using this handy handmade tote to collect everything!). You can find more planting tips and ideas in our collection of 50 gardening activities for kids.
More Food Crafts and Activities for Kids
Looking for another fun project for budding foodies? Keep the seasonal food-themed art party going with a cardboard design-your-own food truck project. Make your own cardboard play food for farm market dramatic play, or explore a new art-making process with our paper mache food craft.
Have a petite sous-chef on your hands? Encourage them to fill their market totes with fresh produce, then try one of these simple, delicious, and healthy seasonal recipes with them…
- The easiest DIY quick pickles
- Our family recipe for lavender lemonade
- A low-sugar peach applesauce
- A kitchen sink quinoa salad that uses up any of the leftovers
More Handmade Household Crafts for Kids
If you’ve found your kids really enjoyed this type of functional craft-making, try mixing up a batch of DIY pixie dust or some surprisingly fun honey goat’s milk soap bars next.
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
GETTING READY TO TRY this?
I love seeing all the ways people make these ideas their own! If you're sharing the results of one of our projects, mention or tag me with @barleyandbirch, or share it in the comments of one of our Pinterest project pins.
