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    St. Patrick’s Day Crafts and Activities

    Washington Parent StaffBy 5 Mins Read
    Dazdraperma/Bigstock.com

    Saint Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday steeped in shamrocks, rainbows and
    pots of gold. You don’t have to be Irish to celebrate this event. Just grab
    some green garb and put on a festive spirit! As you do, here are a few
    activities to get your celebration started.

    SHIMMERY SHAMROCK CARD

    Supplies

    • Heart-shaped stencil
    • Green and white construction paper
    • Pencil
    • Scissors
    • Glue
    • Paintbrush
    • Green glitter
    • Markers

    Instructions

    1. Use stencil, pencil and green paper to create three hearts. Cut
      out.

    2. Fold white construction paper in half to make a card.

    3. On the front side of the card, glue hearts in a cluster with the
      bottom ends of the hearts overlapping to create a shamrock. Cut out
      a stem from the remaining green paper and glue in place.

    4. Use a paintbrush to spread glue over the shamrock leaves and stem.
      Sprinkle with green glitter and shake off excess. Let dry.

    5. Write “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” on the front cover with a marker.
      Open the card and write your own festive greeting, or include this
      one: “May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may
      trouble avoid you wherever you go.”

    RAINBOW IN THE WIND

    Supplies

    • Markers
    • White or green posterboard (cut to 10- x 22-inches)
    • Paper streamers (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
    • Yardstick
    • Stapler
    • Scissors
    • Tape
    • Hole punch
    • Ribbon

    Instructions

    1. Write the following Irish wish across the long side of the posterboard:


      2.   Wishing you a rainbow

        
      For sunlight after showers

        
      Miles and miles of Irish smiles

        
      For golden, happy hours

        
      Shamrocks at your doorway

        
      For luck and laughter too.

        
      And a host of friends that never ends

        
      Each day your whole life through!

    2. Decorate around the poem with markers.

    3. Roll the posterboard lengthwise into a loose roll. Staple at the top and
      bottom to create the windsock base.

    4. Measure and cut streamers to be two-feet long.

    5. Tape the streamers on the inside of the windsock in the order they
      appear in the rainbow.

    6. Around the top of the windsock, punch two holes, string a ribbon through
      and tie it off.

    7. Find an open place where you can run with your windsock and watch the
      colors flutter in the breeze.

    POT O’ GOLD

    Supplies

    • Styrofoam bowl
    • Acrylic paint (green)
    • Paintbrush
    • Chenille sticks/pipe cleaners (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple)
    • Scissors
    • Gold-wrapped chocolate coins

    Instructions

    1. Paint bowl with green paint. Let dry.

    2. Repeat step 1 for a second coat. Let dry.

    3. To make a handle, gather chenille sticks and push them through one
      portion of the upper edge of the bowl.

    4. Twist the chenille stick ends you pushed through to create a knot and
      secure in place.

    5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 directly across from it, forming the chenille
      sticks into an arc shape that creates a handle.

    6. Fill the bowl with chocolate coins.

    LUCKY SHAMROCK SNACKS

    Supplies

    • Baking pan (10- x 13-inch)
    • Waxed paper
    • Butter
    • Large pan
    • 1 cup of peanut butter chips
    • 1 cup of vanilla chips
    • 1/2 cup of light corn syrup
    • 3 tablespoons of margarine or butter
    • 7 cups of Lucky Charms cereal
    • Shamrock cookie cutter

    Instructions

    1. Line pan with buttered waxed paper.

    2. Heat peanut butter chips, vanilla chips, corn syrup and margarine in a
      pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat.

    3. Stir in the cereal until evenly coated. Press in pan. Refrigerate for
      about 20 minutes or until slightly firm.

    4. Use a cookie cutter to shape into shamrocks. Lift shapes from the pan
      and roll leftover cereal mixture into 1 ½-inch balls.

    PRIESTLY PURSUIT

    Saint Patrick’s Day was named after the patron priest from Ireland. But
    just who was he? Born in Great Britain to a wealthy family, Patrick was
    kidnapped at age 16 by a band of pirates, who sold him into slavery in
    Ireland. As a slave, he was given the task to work as a shepherd and,
    grieving his plight, sought refuge in religion. Six years later when he
    escaped slavery and fled to France, he joined a monastery and became a
    priest. One night he had a dream the Irish needed his message of hope. So
    he left his life of recluse and traveled back to Ireland. For the next 30
    years, St. Patrick devoted himself to starting more than 300 monasteries
    and churches before he died on March 17, the day we honor his life.

    IRISH TALES

    • “Jack and the Leprechaun” by Ivan Robertson
    • “Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale”
      by Tomie dePaola
    • “The Last Snake in Ireland: A Story about St. Patrick” by Sheila
      Macgill-Callahan
    • “Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick’s Day
      Symbols”       by Edna Barth
    • “That’s What Leprechauns Do” by Eve Bunting

    Celebrate St. Patty’s Day – See a Parade!

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