How Do You Amuse the Kids on St. Patrick's Day?

Calling all teachers and parents:

Lads and lassies, get ready to celebrate a “wee-bit of fun” this March 17th on St. Patrick’s Day. 

Doing the shamrock stomp:  (baby & toddler)

Put on some music (like an Irish jig or McNamara’s Band) and invite your child to dance along with you.  For young babies, hold them in your arms while you dance.  Encourage him to come up with a variety of ways to move to the music.  To do the “Shamrock Stomp”, cut out large shamrock shapes from green construction paper.  Tape these to the floor.  Start the music and have your child move and jump from shamrock to shamrock.  This is a fun way for your youngster to express himself on St. Patrick’s Day and great for practicing large motor skills.  Masking tape on the floor can be another entertaining movement game.  Stick the tape on the floor to make a design, such as a zigzag, a circle, triangle or a star.  Let your child move along, over and around the lines as they please.

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How about the shamrock shimmy?  (preschool+)

Here’s a fun locomotion game to play with your child.  It’s even better if you can gather other family members or friends.  Cut several small shamrocks from green construction paper.  Write instructions on the one side like:  hop like a bunny, gallop like a horse, crawl like a snake, walk like an elephant, whistle like a leprechaun, skip, walk backwards, etc.  Place these instructional shamrocks in a container on the other side of the room.  Play this like a relay race, as the first person runs to the pile, takes a shamrock and does what it says while returning to his/her team, then sits down. Station an adult to help read the instructions.  The next team member proceeds the same way until everyone has a turn.  Another fun St. Paddy game is “Irish Hot Potato.”  Sit all players in a circle.  Hand one child a potato.  Explain that when the music begins, they will pass the potato to the person on their right.  When the music stops whoever’s holding the potato scoots out of the circle and playing resumes. Who will end up in the circle alone with the potato? Play some Celtic or Irish Jig music to get into the spirit, although any music will do.

Cover photo courtesy of Tumisu, CC0 Public Domain, pixabay.com

Quick shopping for materials you will need for these activities:

Green construction paper      

Green masking tape         

Rainbow Craft for St. Patrick's Day

During St. Patrick’s Day on March 17^th  legends arise about tiny shoemakers living in the forest called Leprechauns. These mysterious little men are supposed to be rich and hide their gold in black pots found at the end of the rainbow. It is supposed to be good luck when you see a rainbow, so involve your child in making one that not only is a St. Patrick’s Day craft, but one that teaches about the colors of the rainbow. Teach your little learner the name “Roy G. Biv” (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) and he will never forget the order of colors in a rainbow.

Materials:

• Sky blue card stock or construction paper
• Tempera poster paints (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet)
• Black construction paper
• Shiny pennies
• Pencil
• Heavy-duty glue
• Safety scissors
• Paper plate

Directions:

Step 1 – Prepare your work area covering the table and floor with newspaper. This craft involves finger printing with paint and can get messy. You may even want your child to wear a paint smock to protect her clothing.

Step 2 – Place a dollop of paint (one of each color) onto a paper plate to look like an artist’s pallet.

Step 3 – Draw an arch on the sky blue paper large enough for a rainbow that covers two-thirds of the page.

Step 4 – Invite your child to use his pointer finger or thumb to do the printing. First, dip into the red paint and make fingerprints along the lines of the arch. Wash that finger with soap and water and then proceed with the next color that is orange. Continue this procedure one row after the other with yellow, green, blue, and violet paint until the rainbow is completed.

Step 5 – While the paint is drying, cut out a pot shape from black construction paper. Parents may need to draw the pot and the child can cut this out using safety scissors.

Step 6 – Glue the pot shape on the sky blue paper at the foot of the rainbow.

Step 7 – Search for shiny pennies and glue a few on the black pot. You will need to use very heavy-duty glue or a low-temperature glue gun to adhere the pennies.

During this craft session talk with your child about how and why rainbows appear in the sky adding a little science to this art project. A rainbow is a circular arc of colors that appears up in the sky when raindrops are illuminated by the sun.

Then tell the fictional, but symbolic story about the leprechauns and their gold. Storybooks are helpful with this task. Legend says if a leprechaun likes you, he will share this gold and other stories say you must catch the leprechaun for him to lead you to his fortune. ‘Tis the luck of the Irish – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Until next time,

Tania

Photo courtesy of Tania Cowling, all rights reserved
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