Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!
Plan a fun family outing—like a parade in your area—or try some of these kid-friendly activities at home. Build your fun day around all things St. Paddy—leprechauns, rainbows, Ireland, and the color green.
- Leprechaun cookies – Grab a few Nutter Butter cookies, some candy melts, and the instructions found on Pinterest to create some smiling faces—your little ones and these adorable leprechauns.
- Build a Leprechaun Trap – Pinterest is full of great ideas for constructing and building your own leprechaun trap—the possibilities are endless. A shoebox, craft supplies and your tiny one’s imagination is all you need! Don’t forget the leprechaun bait – Skittles or “rainbow seeds”, chocolate gold coins, or Lucky Charms will do the trick. Check out our St. Patrick’s Day board for more fun ideas!
- Rainbow Hands – In the less messy version, trace tiny hands onto different colored construction paper, cut out and glue or tape together to form a rainbow. Cotton balls can be adhered to the ends for a cloud effect. Kids can also dip their hands in different colored paint for a fun and messy version!
- Pot of Gold / End of the Rainbow Scavenger Hunt – a great indoor and outdoor activity, especially if it’s raining. Make it fun and get into the spirit of the holiday. Your scavenger hunt can lead your kids through the house finding different items for each color of the rainbow, all green things, different small, leprechaun-sized items; or your hunt can take the entire family outside where you can set up a fairy garden, follow gold coins, have the kiddos plant those rainbow seed Skittles, or you can all try to chase down an actual rainbow to discover what’s at the end. Get creative, have a blast, and spend quality family time together.
- Healthy Green Snacking – Kids will love eating a bunch of green food today; they may not even notice how healthy some of these snacks are: green grapes, green apples, starfruit, celery sticks, asparagus spears, cucumber and kiwi slices.
- Mosaic Shamrocks – Check out this Pinterest craft for a quick, easy and super-fun project. Grab a glue stick and go!
- Story Time – Storytelling is a favorite Irish tradition to practice today. Kids will love learning about St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland and Irish folklore with some of these books from your local library: Fiona’s Luck by Teresa Bateman, O’Sullivan Stew by Hudson Talbet, Tim O’Toole and the Wee Folk by Gerald McDermott, and The St. Patrick’s Day Shillelagh by Janet Nolan. Talk to your librarian for even more recommendations.
St. Patrick’s Day is a day to be green and Irish; it’s a day to spend time together with your family celebrating. Don’t forget to dress up in green everything—it’s the easiest kid-friendly St. Patrick’s Day tradition. We love to see families playing together! Don’t forget to send us your St. Patrick’s Day pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
