St. Patrick’s Day is colorful, magical and full of whimsy, making it the perfect holiday to celebrate with your little ones! Here’s what we’re doing on March 17th:
Focus On The Folklore
One of the most amusing aspects of St. Patrick’s Day is the vibrant backstory many children’s authors have attached to the holiday. Kids love hearing about magical four-leaf clovers and pots of gold. Find a storybook about the holiday that suits your children’s sensibilities, whether that means beautifully illustrated or filled with silly humor, and dive in!
Get Crafty
A great way to bring St. Patrick’s story into real life is to help your kids make silly green crafts. We love making green caterpillars using egg cartons. All you need to do is cut and trim about five cups from the carton. Paint the cups green (or go wild with “scale” patterns) and arrange them in a line. Poke a hole in each cup (do this step without the help of your kids) and connect them together using a pipe cleaner. Glue on googly eyes and curled pipe cleaners (as antennae) and your caterpillar is ready to wiggle and crawl!
Set Out Some Leprechaun Bait
Silly catepillars are always fun, but what is St. Patrick’s Day without leprechauns? Kids (and parents!) love the idea of a mischievous little sprite dressed all in green who grants wishes. Help stoke your little one’s imagination by creating some leprechaun bait. All you need are some recycled glass jars (last night’s pasta sauce works great), food coloring, and some sparkly bits and baubles. Add some yellow and blue food coloring to two bowls of water and help your child to mix them together in the glass jar to magically make a green potion. Customize your bait with gold beans, bits of foil, colored confetti, green jewels, tiny shamrocks — anything shiny and glittery. Place them carefully in the jar. Once full, position the jar near a window and watch the potion sparkle!
