Celebrating St. Patrick's Day With Children

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday to celebrate with your little leprechauns. Take this opportunity to teach your child about some history of Ireland and enjoy some time together. Many of these ideas can be adapted to a St. Patrick’s Day party for children as well. Pair the history with a fun and meaningful activity or game that you will all enjoy and celebrate the patron saint of Ireland.

Make Shamrocks. Children always seem to have tiny broken pieces of crayons everywhere. Put those broken crayons to good use and make some shamrocks. Take green broken crayons and shave off pieces of wax with a crayon sharpener or cheese grater. I have found a grater to be much more efficient. Sprinkle wax shavings evenly over waxed paper and cover with another sheet of waxed paper. Waxed sides should be facing the crayon shavings. Place a towel over it and iron it at a low setting. Once hardened, cut out the wax into shamrock shapes and display. You can also hole punch your shamrocks and hang them from ribbon or fishing line when you are done.

Snakes Out of Ireland. Tell your children the famous story of how St. Patrick legendarily led the snakes out of Ireland and then play this fun “Snakes Out of Ireland” game. Designate a room with lots of open space to be Ireland. Have your children lie on their bellies and squirm around the room like a snake. Put a green hat on to distinguish yourself as St. Patrick and then “chase” the children as they squirm away. If a child gets tagged by you then she moves off to the side until everyone has been tagged. You can take turns being St. Patrick…if you feel up to squirming on your belly! In order to make St. Patrick’s work more difficult he can walk on his knees or sit on a large exercise ball and roll around on it. Your leprechauns will be in gales of laughter as you all play this serpent chase game.

Celtic Crosses. One of the ways St. Patrick made it easier for the Irish to covert to Christianity was by superimposing a sun, important to early Irish people worshipers, on a cross. Thus St. Patrick gave us the first Celtic Cross. You and your child can make a Celtic Cross by using cardboard, glue, and an assortment of adornments like glitter, ribbon, buttons, and plastic gem stones. Draw an outline of a Celtic Cross on the cardboard then an adult should cut it out with a box cutter. Trace a round a 12 inch ruler to create the vertical line of the cross and the measure out three inches from the outside line of each side to create the intersection. To make the circle, turn a glass over the center of the intersection and trace around it. A box cuter will cut the cross out nicely, but your child can use scissors if he wants to. Use your imagination and decorate the cross however you wish. Spread some Irish spirit by making some to give away to family members.

Naughty Leprechaun. Leprechauns are shoemaker fairy elves of Ireland. Legend has it that they guard treasure from ancient times and have hidden them in pots and the end of a rainbow. Leprechauns can be tricky and mischievous. This game can be played two different ways. For the first way you identify something you want to hide with your child. Send your child out of the room and hide the object. Call you child back in and have him look for the object and then take turns. My children love to hide a toy or stuffed animal and watch me look for it. For older children a more challenging way to play Naughty Leprechaun is to change something in one room. For instance, make a picture hang crooked, turn a decoration backwards, or rearrange a couch pillow. Your child must guess what is different when he comes back in.

Eat green. Give your child his own green drink by adding a little food coloring to ginger ale, or any clear carbonated drink, and serve in a clear cup. A fun alternative is to make green ice cubes and then add them to a carbonated drink or water. Your child will love how the drink slowly turns green as the ice cubes melt.

If green eggs and ham don’t appeal to you, don’t despair! There are plenty of green foods you and your children can make to have a luck o’ the Irish meal. Bake some lemon chicken and sprinkle it with rosemary, oregano, and parsley. Cut up green peppers and broccoli and serve it with dill dip. An easy recipe for the dill dip is to combine the following ingredients:

1 Cup sour cream

1 Cup mayonnaise

1 T. dried dill weed

1 T. dried parsley

1 T. dried chopped onion

¼ t. salt

Make some shamrock cookies. Make use of your shamrock cookie cutter or a cookie press and add some green food coloring to the cookie dough to produce a tasty green treat. Your child can add green sprinkles before the cookies are baked or decorate them with green icing once the cookies have cooled. Shamrocks were important to the ancient Irish people. As you are making the shamrock cookies tell your child that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to the people of Ireland. St. Patrick is credited for converting most of Ireland to Christianity.

Teach your children a little history of Ireland and the famine they experienced from 1845-1852 due to the potato blight. Many families were entirely dependant on potatoes as a crop and as a main source of food. When the potatoes succumbed to different diseases over that time many families lost loved ones and/or immigrated. Talk to your child about what an important vegetable the potato is and have her think of different ways potatoes can be consumed. Activities you can do with your child and potatoes include making mashed potatoes and coloring them green or making homemade French fries. If you have a small group you can play the “Hot Potato” game.

Pot of Gold. Make a delicious pot of gold dessert by making mini chocolate bundt cakes. Once they are cooled, place a licorice stick or pipe cleaner from one side to another to create a handle. Add some chocolate gold coins or plastic gold coins in the middle to fill the pot.

Everybody is a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day and celebrating it is fun and exciting. Get into the spirit of the day by wearing something green on March 17 and calling your child a leprechaun throughout the day. Play the games described above and spend some quality time with your child completing a craft. When you’re finished, have a green family dinner and eat some yummy green treats. Your child will be saying, “Kiss me! I’m Irish!” in no time at all.