St Patricks Day Crafts

Shamrock, Leprechaun, History in a story

St Patricks Day Crafts and art projects for kids - leprechauns, shamrocks, and many others for your preschool and kindergarten lesson plans. Also, find out the meaning and highlights of St Patricks Day. Tell a story and make some easy crafts to prepare for the celebration.

Here are some easy to follow instructions for your preschoolers. The lesson plan for St. Patrick's Day Crafts may incorporate lessons on History, Cultural, Science, Language, Art and Craft.

Let's look at some facts:

HISTORY OF ST PATRICK'S DAY in a story

March 17 is National public holiday of Ireland to celebrate St Patricks Day.

Who is St. Patrick ?

Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents a long long time ago (AD 387) Patrick died on March 17.(AD 493)

One day when Patrick was 16 years old, his family was attacked by Irish raiders who wanted their estate.Patrick was captured and sent to jail in another country to be a slave - (Ireland).

There, he worked as a shepherd boy, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion and became a devout Christian.

After 6 years of slavery, Patrick escaped and later returned to Ireland to tell people of his God.. He helped many people, was very famous in Ireland and became known as Saint Patrick.

When he died on March 17, Irish people wanted to remember him and so a national holiday was declared. It was called St Patricks Day.


CULTURAL OF ST PATRICK'S DAY

On this day it is celebrated by people wearing green in a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and fireworks shows. Shamrock and Leprechauns are symbols of the day. There are many countries like America, Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, Singapore....etc who also celebrate St Patricks Day besides Ireland and England.

Why green?
To the Irish, green is hope and nature. The national emblem of Ireland is green. It is known as a Shamrock.

What's a Shamrock?
It is a low-growing, cloverlike plant with three-lobed leaves. What's Clover?
Clover is a plant of the pea family that has leaves that are typically three-lobed. It has dense globular flower heads.

What's the significance of the 3 leaf clover plant ?In the Catholic Church, the 3 leaf is a symbol of the Christian Trinity - God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It also commonly represents Faith, Hope, Love.

What about the 4 leaf clover ?

Over the years, people's faith decline and moved from God to self and circumstances, even superstitutions. When one sees a four leaf clover, he feels lucky because the fourth leaf is known as Luck.

What's Leprechaun?
The Leprechaun are Irish Fairies from the island of Ireland. They look like old men who enjoy being mischievous. Using their magical power of hypnotism and trickery, they like to trick their victims. They work as cobblers or shoemakers and are very wealthy. They would hide their gold in secret places. One popular belief is that if you look hard at a rainbow, you may see a leprechaun and his pot of gold at the end of it.



LANGUAGE

Use this St Paticks Day occasion to teach :-

Pincer Grip Exercise

St Patricks Day celebration may be another opportunity to introduce pre writing skills. Here you can use colour mixing with pipette to introduce the colour green.

Required:

1 small bowl

2 small glasses

2 small pipettes

1 small jug

1 small tray

Food coloring - blue and yellow

Water

Sponge or cloth for spillage

Preparation:

Fill 1 glass with a drop of the blue coloring & add water

Fill the other glass with a drop of yellow coloring and add water

Place the glasses horizontally across the tray

Place the pipettes one on each side of the glasses

Place the bowl in front of the glasses & pipettes

Place the jug at the right corner of the tray

Place the sponge/cloth at the left corner of the tray

Instructions

1) Introduce the pincer grip to the child - using the thumb and index finger - like pinching

2) Show the child how to transfer the color from the glass to the bowl isolating each step - squeeze pipette, insert into liquid, release, observe liquid get sucked up, transfer to bowl, squeeze, observe the flow of the liquid.

3) Using a different pipette (so colors are isolated), repeat the process and observe that blue and yellow makes green.

4) Pour the green solution into the jug and wipe the bowls dry for the next person.

Green is the color of St Patricks Day, so be prepared with lots of green color paint.
Run out of green ? Mix blue and yellow to make green colour.

Here are some easy Shamrock Craft using shapes like circle, triangle, rectangle, heart etc

Use recycled materials like newspapers, fabric pieces, colorful magazines, buttons, bottle caps....etc and encourage children to be creative in making funny costumes for dresses, hats...etc

Dress like a Leprechaun

Make a Leprechaun hat like the one in the picture with a shamrock attached. Put on a set of green pyjamas with a green (cardboard) belt. Put on a pair of big brown shoes and act mischievously like a Leprechaun. Children may take turns to dress up and act. Have fun on St Patricks Day.

Leprechaun Coloring Fun

See More Craft ideas:

Preschool Art Projects

Funny Pictures with Thumb Printing

Many more Preschool Crafts

Recycled Materials Crafts

Edible Crafts

See Also:

Preschool Activities

Kindergarten Reading Program

Outdoor Activites for all seasons

Child Development

Montessori Method

Homeschooling

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