'Real buzz' around World Book Day spuds

For years on World Book Day, parents have been asked to dress their children up as book characters, and social media feeds have filled up with pictures of kids in costumes.

But now some schools are encouraging families to decorate potatoes instead - as a way to chip away at some of the costs.

Classrooms around Northern Ireland have filled up with spudulicious recreations of Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and more.

One principal said it is a chance for parent-child connection and creativity, and brings the focus back to the book.

Catherine Davidson, Acting Principal at Ballysillan Primary School and Nursery in Belfast, says there has been a "real buzz".

"I know children reading books is at its lowest in 20 years and I'm not surprised at that with the amount that families have to work and the rise in screen time," she said.

"I just think for families to connect one-on-one without a screen is essential and using a potato for world book day facilitates this.

"If we had just done dressing up, someone would order a costume and put it on their child and there wouldn't be as much engagement into the depth of reading, the characters behind it, the story, the understanding, the buzz about the book.

"I think decorating the potato really heightens that, and engages one-on-one reading."

Mrs Davidson said the decision was made given the financial pressures already facing parents.

"Due to the economic climate, instead of having families spend money on dressing up, we wanted to take a different approach."

Emma McGuinness, Principal of Eglinton Primary School in Londonderry, said decorating potatoes has let pupils' creativity shine - with the added bonus of being more affordable for families.

"We're a rural farming community here at Eglington, so we thought potatoes are something the children would have easy access to.

"We have some weird and wonderful ideas here, they're amazing - the creative natures of the pupils have really shone."

But at Eglinton, pupils are encouraged to dress up as well as dressing their potatoes.

"The children are dressing up, we're having a book swap so they can bring in books they no longer read and swap them for new ones, and we've also got parents and grandparents coming in and out to read stories to the different classes," Ms McGuinness said.

"There's been so much excitement and the children love showing off their potatoes.

"It was great seeing the parents coming in this morning very carefully carrying the creations in their Tupperware containers."