St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner! We have curated a selection of great activities to prepare for a super green celebration!
End O’ the Rainbow Gold Hunt or Relay
Supplies: gold chocolate coins (or create your own gold coins by cutting circles from yellow construction paper), bucket or pail, colorful paper, glue or tape, scrap art materials, ‘treasure’ of your choice (fun activity like kite flying or a new book)
Provide colorful paper and scrap materials for your child to use to embellish their bucket.
For the hunt: Hide the coins in a designated area (be sure keep count for clean-up purposes) and encourage your child to hunt for the gold coins to fill their pot. Assure them that when they are done gathering the gold, there will be a treasure for them! Set up the leprechaun’s lair with a treasure and explain they must trade their gold with the leprechaun before they can get the treasure. The treasure can be a trinket or toy, a family outing, or spending time reading a favorite book.
For the relay, place a large bucket a measured distance from a start line- this is the leprechaun’s ‘pot of gold’. Place a pile of gold at your child’s feet. When you say go, encourage your child to take a piece of gold in their bucket from the pile and carry it to the leprechaun’s pot of gold, one by one, until their pile of gold is gone. Once all the gold is deposited into the leprechaun’s pot of gold, they can receive their treasure!
The activities can be used with one child or a group of children. The treasure can be a trinket or toy, a family outing, or spending time reading a favorite book.
Shamrock Snack
Supplies: English muffins, cheese, green pepper
Cut a green pepper horizontally to create shamrock shapes. Gather the supplies and encourage your child to assemble their shamrock snacks by placing the cheese on top of the English muffin, and the green pepper on top of the cheese. With supervision, place the snacks in a microwave or toaster oven for 15-30 seconds, or until the cheese melts. Serve and enjoy!
Green Gak
Supplies: Elmer’s Glue, liquid starch and Green food coloring, sandwich bag
In a plastic sandwich bag, mix ¼ cup of liquid starch with 3 drops of green food coloring. After the starch and green dye are mixed, add ¼ cup of glue to the mixture. Close the bag tight and let your child mush the ingredients together until it forms into a solid ‘blob’. Remove the blob from the bag and let your child have fun stretching and forming the slimy gak!
Shamrock Shake
Supplies: vanilla ice cream with green food coloring, milk, peppermint extract (or use mint chocolate chip ice cream and milk)
Add 2 cups (1 pint) of ice cream, 1 cup milk, ¼ tsp. peppermint extract, and ¼ tsp. green food coloring into a blender. Cover the top tight with a lid and blend on high. Once the shake is smooth, pour into glasses and enjoy!
Parade Props
Supplies: green, orange, and white crepe paper, toilet paper or paper towel tubes tape, glue, markers, rice, jingle bells, string or yarn, paper, paint, paintbrushes, stick or wooden dowel
To create fun, noisy parade props, first, take toilet paper rolls and encourage your child to decorate with crepe paper and paint.
To make noisemakers, use the dry decorated paper roll and create a jingle jangle prop by attaching bells with string and tape. With another paper roll, you can make percussive shakers by closing one end of the roll and adding ¼ cup of rice to the roll. Close the other end tight and shake away!
For parade flyers, add crepe paper streamers to the tail end of the paper roll and attach the front to the end of a stick or dowel. Carry them with you and wave as you march!