It’s always important to teach children the history and value behind our celebrated holidays, so why not start with St. Patrick’s Day?
This holiday is not only about wearing green and looking for 4 leaf clovers. In short, this day was created so that we remember the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland. After you share this small history lesson with the kids, have some fun with hands-on activities.
Fun fact:
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade actually took place in the United States, not in Ireland as some might think. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through the streets of New York in an effort to celebrate their Irish roots and connect with each other.
Fun activities to do with the kids to celebrate St. Patrick’s day:
Lucky Crafts
- Shamrock Cards. Get out the construction paper, scissors and glitter because St. Patrick’s is a fun holiday for craft making. Help kids cut out and decorate shamrock cards which they can then give to friends or family.
- Leprechaun Hats. What kid doesn’t like wearing a funny hat? By using the materials from above, help children make their very own leprechaun hats – they can have a good time wearing it all day.
- Pots of Gold. Here’s a craft idea you can start the week before St. Pat’s and make it a weeklong celebration. Have each child cut out their own pot of gold and have all the pots suspended up on the front wall.
During that week, as each child does something that deserves a reward, instead of a gold star, stick a gold coin (a simple circle cut out and taped) onto their pot. At the end of the week, the child with the biggest pot of gold gets a small prize.
St. Patrick’s Day is a wonderful holiday to celebrate with children of all ages, and hopefully these ideas will be a hit with your kids!
Author bio:
Karen Lederer works with the online programs at Dominican University. She is an educator who loves photography and running. Connect with her on Twitter at @Karen_Lederer.
I was JUST thinking what crafts I wanted to do with my kids for St.Paddy’s Day and these are simple and fun! Thanks! The leprechaun comes to our house the night before St. Patrick’s Day and moves our furniture around playing tricks on us, so maybe we will make him a hat too.
Glad you found this helpful. How was your St. Paddy’s day?
Yue’s idea of a leprechaun is Hornswoggle (the midget) from WWE. Hehe.
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I will google that name! Don’t know him.:)
ohhhhh so fun! Thanks for sharing!
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Hope you had a fantastic St. Paddy’s Day!
Thanks for the historical reminder. It seems like St. Patty’s day has become about green beer;) Nice to see these wholesome projects. Not that green beer is bad;)
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Hey Courtney, absolutely nothing wrong with green beer. And yes, history lessons are great for kids every now and then.
Thanks for the history lesson! Love the pot of gold idea – great motivator for the kids to behave!
Now I’m off to find my four leaf clover… My sister in law finds them ALL the time.
Leigh @oneandoneequalstwinfun
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Definitely a great motivator
Let us know how your kids enjoy the pot of gold and good luck on finding your 4 leaf clover.
Love it…love it! As a mostly Irish girl who married a full blooded Italian, I can say with 100% certainty that the American Irish are WAY more into St. Paddy’s day then the Irish in Ireland:)
love the crafts. You’re so good at that stuff!!!!
Sharon
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Thank you to Karen for writing this post! Thought you guys would love this (we don’t really celebrate this in the Philippines – but now we have reason to because of these great activities). Glad you like it, Sharon.
Happy you all enjoyed it! Being half Irish myself, I love celebrating St Patrick’s Day!
Thanks again for the awesome post, Karen!