Did you want to do some fun, educational and engaging St. Patrick’s Day activities with children? If so, you have come to the right place! Our activities are widely used by teachers, moms, dads, child care providers etc. for learning and teaching while being fun for the kids!
St. Patrick’s Day Crafts & Activities
St. Patrick’s Day Little Man Puppet
Cut a large shamrock out — have the child paste it on a large art stick or popsicle stick and then add the arms (with attached little shamrocks for hands) and legs (again with little shamrocks for feet)
Shamrock cut outs
Cookie cutters into paint and either paint a sweatshirt or on large pieces of paper.
Shamrock Puzzles
Cut out a large shamrock and let the child paste, paint, color all over it. Depending on the age, the child can later cut it into several pieces and let them put the puzzle together!!
Shamrock hunting – Ages: 2+
Take children into back yard or a park and have them look for four leaf clovers. We actually found one last year!!!— This can be done inside as well by making a construction paper clover and 1 four leaf shamrock and have the kids try and find it.
Leprechaun mischief – All ages
While the children are out playing or before they arrive make some silly changes in the room like putting things out of place, hiding things, leaving gold chocolate coins, etc. Leave green footprints. Blame it on the leprechaun when they come in. Explain all about St. Patrick’s day and leprechauns.
Coin hunting – All ages
Scatter gold chocolate coins in yard before children arrive and have fun searching for the “luck” left by the leprechauns.
Collage – Ages 2 1/2 +
Cut out a shamrock shape and have a box of green collage materials- yarn, fabric, ribbon, buttons, glitter. Add green coloring to glue and let them decorate.
Paper Plate Shamrocks
Materials:
3 paper plates
Green Crayons
Green Construction paper
Glue
Scissors
Instructions:
Color all three paper plates green. Cut a stem from green construction paper. Glue the three paper plates together and in a triangle type shape. Then glue the stem at the bottom.
Coffee Filter Shamrock
Materials:
Coffee filter
2 baby food jars
Water
Scissors
Blue and yellow food coloring
Q-tips
Instructions:
Cut Coffee filter in the shape of a shamrock. Put water in two baby food jars. Add yellow food color in one jar and blue in the other. Give the children Q-tips and let them mix the colors on the coffee filter. You end up with a very interesting green shamrock.
St Pat’s Ribbons
submitted by Wendy Hollands
Chesterville, Ontario, Canada
Materials:
Chenille stick
Pom pom
Glue
Wiggly eyes
Ribbon
Feather
Instructions:
I bent the glitzy chenille stick into a shamrock shape. The kids glued on the 1′ pom pom. They glued on the shamrock ribbon in the back. They glued on the two eyes. Then they glued on the feather. I glued the pin in the back with glue gun.
St Pat’s Shamrocks
submitted by Lisa of Dreams and Discoveries
Materials:
White rice
Cooking oil
Green food coloring
White posterboard
Instructions:
1. Cut posterboard into shamrock shapes, one per child
2. Pour rice into large bowl, coat lightly with oil, put in several drops of food coloring, stir until rice is green
3. Let rice dry on paper towels for several hours
4. Give each child a posterboard shamrock, let each child pour glue all over shamrock, then spread thin with q-tip
5. Give each child a small bowl with green rice in it, let child sprinkle rice all over glue, let dry.
Sparkle Shamrocks – ages 2-6 (help the little ones)
Materials:
Cereal box cardboard
Pinto beans
Green paint
Paint brushes
Scissors
Glue
Glitter
Instructions:
1. Cut a large shamrock shape out of your cardboard
2. Glue the pinto beans onto the shamrock
3. Let dry overnight
4. Paint Green & sprinkle with glitter
Two weeks ago, a leprechaun “lost” all his gold in our play spaces. He left us his pot and a reward notice saying that if we could find all his gold and refill his pot by St. Patrick’s Day, he would leave us a reward.
The children have been having a wonderful time finding the gold (gold spray-painted items – anything I could think of – marbles, rocks, buttons, keys, feathers, spoons etc.). Each time they find a piece of gold, they place it in the leprechaun’s pot and I give them a “Lucky Shamrock” sticker to put on their cubby name label (we count how many items we have and how many stickers each child has – Math).
On St. Patrick’s Day, the leprechaun will return at nap time and pick up his small pot full of gold – and in return he will leave a large pot (a Halloween witch’s cauldron) full of a reward. The reward will consist of shamrock shaped cookies, a pitcher of lemonade tinted green, festive cups and napkins, and a goodie bag for each child.
Shamrock Wands
From Craft’s for St Patrick’s Day
by Kathy Ross
Text © Kathy Ross, Art © Sharon Lane Holm
Used by permission of the Millbrook Press
Materials:
Green construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Stapler
Gold glitter
Green straw
Thin ribbon in both green and gold
Instructions:
1. Cut three heart shapes from the green paper. Glue the tips of the three shapes together to form a shamrock.
2. Staple the center of the shamrock to the end of the straw to make a handle
3. Decorate the shamrock with gold glitter
4. Cut three or more 3 foot ribbons. Hold the ribbons together and staple them to the back of the shamrock at the center so that the ends hang down from the shamrock wand.
5. Cut several tiny shamrocks and staple them along the ribbons.
Maybe your magic wand will help you catch a leprechaun!!
Shamrock People
Materials:
Construction paper
Scissors
Instructions:
Cut large shamrock shape our of green paper. Fold white paper accordion style for arms and legs. Cut small shamrocks for hands and feet. Glue at ends of accordion arms and legs. Decorate large shamrock as a face. Very Cute!
Recipes
Leprechaun Pudding
one 1-ounce box of sugar free instant
pistachio pudding for every five children
1/2 cup of milk per child
1 small, resealable plastic bag per child
1/2 cup measuring cup
1 spoon per child.
Put tablespoon of pudding mix in sandwich bag and milk, then close the baggy and have kids shake and squeeze, then eat.
St. Patrick’s Day Songs, Poems and Finger Plays
Leprechaun’s Gold
(sung to “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little leprechaun
Dressed in green,
The tiniest man
That you have ever seen.
If you ever catch me, so it’s told,
I’ll give you my pot of gold.
Wee Little Patrick
(sung to “Yankee Doodle”)
Patrick is a leprechaun
He has a sack of gold
He hides it in a special place
Between two stumps, I’m told
I think I once saw Patrick
Out in the woods at play
He smiled and laughed and winked his eye
And then he ran away
Don’t try to follow Patrick
To find his treasure sack
He’ll twist and jump and run away
And he never will come back.
(sung to “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little Leprechaun short and green,
Here is my shamrock but I can’t be seen,
When you pull my feather,hear me scream (everyone scream)
I’m a little Leprechaun,short and green.
Shamrocks, shamrocks,
On Ireland’s hills,
Greenest of green
Over rocks and rills
Good luck do they bring,
For one and all
On St. Patrick’s Day
We can see them all.
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Mosaic Pot of Gold
by Amanda Formaro
Kids will love making this fun picture for St. Patrick’s Day! Only a few supplies, this project is fun and cost effective!
Age: 4 and up
This project is rated VERY EASY to do.
What You Need
Ø 1 sheet of light blue construction paper
Ø ½ sheets of construction paper in green, red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and black
Ø shamrock stickers (optional)
Ø white craft glue
Ø scissors
Ø pencil or pen
Ø click here to open window with pattern
Parental Supervision: none
Time Needed: 1 hour or less
How To Make It
Lay the light blue construction paper onto the work surface in front of the child.
- Cut a wide strip of green construction paper to fit on the bottom third of the light blue, this will be the grass.
- Place pattern over the top of your construction paper. Use a pen or pencil to trace the pattern, press firmly so that the paper underneath is indented. Remove the pattern and lightly trace the indents with pencil or pen.
- Tear remaining construction paper into strips, then into squares.
- Following the pattern lines, use white craft glue to fill in different sections at a time then apply the paper squares onto the glue. We recommend the following order for best results:
Ø Black pot
Ø Rainbow
Ø Gold in pot
Ø sun
- Apply shamrock stickers to various places on the grass.
Helpful Hints
Keep a stock of construction paper for fun impromptu projects.
Buy holiday themed stickers and supplies after each holiday when they go on clearance!
If you have carbon paper, you can use this to trace the pattern instead of creating indents and drawing over them.
External St Patrick’s Day Links to Other Sites
Making Friends St Patrick’s Page
DLTK’s St Patrick’s Day Fun
Kids Domain St Pat’s Goodies
FamilyCorner.com St Patrick’s Day Fun
Musical Finian’s Rainbow
Old Fashioned Holidays
Main Street Moms St Pat’s Ideas
Absolutely for St Patrick’s Day
Dear Reader: You can help us make this theme even better!
All of our theme ideas have come from our imagination and from reader submissions. Please use this form to contact us if you have crafts, activities, games, recipes, songs or poems that you would like us to add to this theme.