St. Patrick's Day Crafts for the Wee Ones

Whenever I run out of ideas for my kids, I check the calendar. Holidays provide days of boredom-busting fun. Making decorations takes up a few afternoons. Then a day to decorate. And after the holiday is over, an afternoon of taking down the decorations. That's a minimum of three no-brainer days. Sweet.

Yesterday we decided to make St. Patrick's Day decorations. I quickly consulted Pinterest and found a rainbow, leprechaun, and pot of gold that all seemed fun and easy. While my older son was at school, I set up our dining room with a plastic tablecloth. Then I gathered materials for our projects:

Gold at the End of the Rainbow

• paper plates, cut in half
• washable paints
• paintbrushes
• wet wipes for messy hands, spills, etc.
• craft glue
• cotton balls, 4-6 per rainbow
• ribbon, cut into varying lengths (around 4-6 inches each), 4 strands per rainbow
• tape
• circles cut from a few sheets of yellow construction paper (TIP: If you have a circle punch for scrapbooking or card-making, it will make this part much easier. I used a 1.5" circle punch.)
• glue stick

1. Paint a rainbow on the paper-plate half.
2. Use glue to secure cotton balls for the clouds; set aside to dry.
3. Use glue stick to sandwich two gold coins together, with the ribbon in between.
4. When the paint is dry, turn the rainbow over and secure the ribbons to the back with tape.

Leprechaun Faces

• paper plate, 1 per leprechaun
• orange, green, black, and yellow construction paper
• google eyes (or black crayon or marker)
• glue stick

1. For younger children, cut the pieces ahead of time; older children may cut their own. Use the paper plate as a guide for the size of the beard (orange paper) and the hat (green paper).
2. Use the scraps left from the orange paper to cut a mustache.
3. Use the hat as a guide to cut a strip from the black paper.
4. Cut a square from the yellow paper. Fold in half to cut out the inside, leaving a hollow square for the buckle.
5. Use glue stick to adhere all the pieces to the paper plate. If not using google eyes, draw the eyes with marker or crayon.

Pot O'Gold

• black construction paper
• circles cut from a few sheets of yellow construction paper (again, a circle punch helps)
• glue stick
• St. Patrick's Day stickers (optional)

1. For younger children, cut the pieces ahead of time; older children may cut their own. Cut a pot from the black paper, using the photo as a guide. Folding the paper in half helps to achieve a symmetrical shape.
2. Use glue stick to adhere gold coins to the top.
3. If desired, use St. Patrick's Day-themed stickers to decorate your pot of gold. I thought that would be fun; my kids were not interested.


Put them all together, and you have a cute scene to make any room more festive for March 17th.

I hope you have fun making these St. Patrick's Day crafts with your kids. As always, thanks for reading.