St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday that lends itself to fun activities for kids. From the youngest preschoolers to middle school kids, they will enjoy celebrating “putting on the green!” The key to putting together fun ideas for kids to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is to make sure the activity matches the skill level, attention span, and age appropriateness for the children involved. There are a wide variety of fun things to do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, from games, recipes and crafts. So if you are in charge of your child’s classroom party, or just want to celebrate in fun style at home, here are some fun ideas for kids on St. Patrick’s Day-
Hot Potato/Irish style-Younger kids especially love this version. Make sure that you have the right music to add to the activity.
What you will need:
Potato
Celtic or Irish Jig Music
How To Play: Have all of the kids sit in a circle. Begin by handing the potato to a child. Tell the kids that when the music starts, they will begin passing the potato, to whoever, is sitting on their right. Let the kids know that whoever has the potato when the music starts, has to leave the circle and the last person in the circle, is the winner.
Four Leaf Clover Cookies-Kids will love helping your whip up these easy to make and oh so delicious cookies.
What you will need:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Green food coloring
Instructions for the recipe-Begin the recipe by measuring into the bowl all of the dry ingredients. Gently stir and then set the bowl aside. Cream together the sugar and butter, for approximately 1 minute, using an electric mixer. Add in the egg, vanilla, and continue to mix until combined. Carefully add in the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Mix continually until the dough is quite stiff. At this point you can begin adding the green food coloring. Begin with only a few drops and then add more until you reach the right color green. The kids can help you knead the dough, until the color is even throughout. Push the dough together into tow disks, flatten the edges and work toward the center. Cover the entire dough with plastic and place in the fridge, for at minimum of 2 hours up to overnight. When the dough is thoroughly chilled, take out one disk and roll out until it is approximately ¼ inch thickness. At this point you can begin cutting out shamrocks (there are lots of cookie cutters available at your local craft store). Place the cookies on baking sheet that is not greased. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies begin to lightly brown on the edges. For cooling place on a rack. Once the cookies are cool you can decorate them with frosting and/or green candies. The recipe yields about 34 cookies.
Shamrock Stamp-Kids will love making their own stamp and then being able to use it.
What you will need:
Heart-shaped cookie cutter (2 1/2 inches wide and long)
Potato, cut in half
Paring knife
Green acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Instructions for the project: Carefully but firmly press the heart-shaped cookie cutter into the cut face of a potato half. While the cookie cutter is still pressed into place, carefully use the knife to cut the excess potato from around the heart. Keep in mind that this is an adult’s job. Gently remove the cookie cutter. Then the child can carefully dip the heart shaped potato in the green paint and press it down onto the paper. Use the heart shape to make the other two leaves of the shamrock. Then the child can finish by adding a stem with a swish of the paintbrush.