St. Paddy's Day Crafts for Kids

Let your kids make a homemade shamrock stamp,

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration that honors Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated by wearing green and decorating with shamrocks, leprechauns, rainbows and pots of gold. There are a variety of St. Patrick's Day crafts that allow kids to join in on the festivities.

Wee Leprechaun

Take the cardboard cylinder out of a roll of toilet paper and stand it upright on a piece of green construction paper. Trace a circle around the bottom of the cardboard cylinder. Draw a 2 1/2 inch circle around the first circle you just traced. Cut them both out, and set them aside for later. Use green acrylic paint and a small paintbrush to paint the cardboard cylinder green. Once the green paint has dried, use flesh-colored acrylic paint to make a face. Paint on a flesh-colored circle 1 inch down from an end of the cardboard cylinder. Let that paint dry, and then use a marker to draw on eyes, a nose and a mouth. Take three pieces of brown pipe cleaner and wrap each piece around a pencil, so that it will coil. After wrapping each individual piece around a pencil, slide it off the pencil so it retains the coil. Use tacky glue to secure one of the pipe cleaners to the bottom of the face so that it resembles a beard. Take the other two pipe cleaners and glue them to the back of the cylinder so that it resembles hair. Place tacky glue right above the face. Make the tacky glue go around the entire cylinder. Take the green circular ring you created earlier and slide it down the top of the cylinder, until it lands on the glue. Secure your new hat brim in place. Take the smaller green circle you cut out and put it over the opening of the cardboard cylinder.

Green Stamp

Take a large potato and cut it in half. Place a heart-shaped cookie cutter in the center of one of the potato halves. Use a paring knife to cut around the cookie cutter. Discard the excess potato you just cut off. Take off the cookie cutter and put it away. Pour green acrylic paint onto a paper plate. Dip the face of your heart-shaped potato onto the paint, and then stamp the painted potato onto a piece of paper. Re-coat your potato and press it onto the paper two more times. When you're finished, there should be a heart top pointing up, a heart top pointing to the left and a heart top pointing to the right. Use a paint brush to paint a stem on the bottom. Use your new stamp to decorate St. Patrick's Day cards.

Rainbow Streamer Craft

Using several sheets of colored crepe paper, cut a long, 1 inch wide strip of paper from each sheet. Take a paper plate and cut out the center, so there is only a ring remaining. Staple each strip of paper to the back of the paper plate ring. Now you have a streamer that you can carry around all day.

References

• Family Fun: Wee Leprechaun
• Family Fun: Green Stamp
• Enchanted Learning: Rainbow Streamer Craft