Saint Patrick's Day brings back happy memories for me from when I was a child. One that stands out? The day I arrived at school to find out a leprechaun had come to visit our class in the middle of the night, making a wild mess of everything.
He'd tipped over chairs and hung streamers from the ceiling. He left behind green footprints that we followed through the school halls until we stopped at a chest filled with candy.
Such a magical memory!
While my children are not old enough to be in school yet, I still want to celebrate the holiday with them in memorable ways! So we came up with these three easy St. Patrick's Day crafts, perfect for the preschool-sized leprechauns!
Pot O' Gold Rainbow Hand
This is fun for kids to make, and a great keepsake for you or to give to grandparents! I just love little handprint crafts.
What You Need
- Poster board or large sheet of paper
- Red, orange, yellow, green, and blue paint
- Black paper
- Plastic coins
- Hot glue
How to make it:
- Cut out a pot or cauldron shape from the black paper and set aside.
- Stripe each finger (and continue down the palm!) of the child's hand with each separate paint color.
- Press the hand onto your paper to make the rainbow.
- Glue the pot under the rainbow.
- Hot glue coins to the pot.
The cutest leprechaun face
This leprechaun face is easy to make and your child will love wearing it around the house ... sure to make you laugh!
What you need:
- White paper plate
- Black, yellow, and green construction paper
- Orange marker
- Stapler
- Scissors
- Glue
Instructions:
- Cut the middle out of the paper plate.
- Color the plate orange.
- Cut a hat shape out of green paper. Embellish with a cutout gold buckle, shamrock, and black band.
- Glue shapes together to create your finished hat.
- Glue the hat onto the paper plate.
Optional: You can also add a hole punch to each side and attach the hat to the child's head with elastic or string.
The end of the (cereal) rainbow
The great thing about this colorful craft is that kids can practice everything from fine motor and scissors skills to colors. Plus they can have fun sneaking a few marshmallows and cereal treats!
What you need:
- Colored cereal
- Mini marshmallows
- Paper (cardstock or even poster board work best because of the weight of the cereal and coins!)
- Black construction paper
- Glue
- Plastic gold coins
How to make it:
- Draw where the cloud goes. Glue mini-marshmallows in the cloud area.
- Draw and cut out the pot from the black construction paper, then glue it into place.
- Separate the cereal into colors then glue into the shape of a rainbow, ending in the pot.
- Glue down gold coins at the top of the pot!
Greta Tafelski is the publisher of Macaroni Kid Meadville-Titusville, Pa.
