The following is a post from contributing writer Dianna Kennedy
Whatever your heritage, in March, EVERYONE gets to be Irish for a day. My husband’s family hails from the Emerald Isle, so we have loads of fun celebrating. In our city, we have a large Irish community, so the celebration goes on for a week or more!
Ready to throw a green party? I’ve collected some of the best books, crafts, printables and recipes to get you started with your young children.
1. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland
We’re big fans of Tomie dePaola in our house! We also use his Book of Bible Stories in our homeschool curriculum.
This book tells the story of St Patrick and covers some of his most well known legends.
For Christian families, the shamrock is a great way to teach about the Trinity. Add some fun to your art projects with this shamrock stamper, made from a pepper!
This book also covers the story of Saint Patrick, from prisoner to slave to Saint!
You’ll find instructions for a St Patrick puppet and more with Lacy of Catholic Icing.
Ready to work on alphabet skills? You can explore Ireland with your children, with each letter of the alphabet.
Head over to 2 Teaching Mommies for a St Patrick’s Day printable collection - covering math, letters and more!
4. St Patrick’s Day in the Morning
My children are so excited to be able to attend the St Patrick’s Day parade in our area this year! This sweet story of young Jamie’s first parade experience is sure to delight young children.
Stuck with nothing green to wear? Don’t miss this tutorial so you can make your own shamrock shirt! Before you head out to the parade, plan some time for some fun with this rainbow printable pack.
The annual St Patrick’s Day decorating contest is underway, and this year, gets turned upside down by a tiny special guest!
For a fun snack, you can fix your children some Leprechaun Pudding, then make this adorable Leprechaun beard!
6. The Night Before St Patrick’s Day
What do you do when you catch a leprechaun? Look for his pot of gold, of course!
Your little leprechauns will have loads of fun with rainbow crafts and working on math facts with their own pots of gold.
Kids will enjoy this story of this classic Irish legends about a music competition between two harpists.
Continue the fun at home with G is for Green printable packet. Kindergarten students will love this crystal shamrock experiment.
8. The Story of St Patrick’s Day
This board book is great for your younger students. You’ll see symbols such as shamrocks, rainbows, harps and more.
Little ones will enjoy the hands on fun of shaving cream shamrocks. You can find a treasure trove of craft ideas over at First School.
9. The Luckiest St Patrick’s Day
Do your children enjoy rhyming stories? Be sure to add this lively book to your reading basket!
I’m planning on making this shamrock suncatcher with my little ones – the cutting and gluing are a great way to work on fine motor skills. You’ll find many St Patrick’s Day game ideas for children to celebrate over at Making Learning Fun.
10. St Patrick’s Day
This wonderful book by Gail Gibbons covers all the details of St Patrick’s life, as well as the common symbols of St. Patrick’s Day. She also has a series of books covering other popular holidays.
Start off your children’s day with a fun St Patrick’s Day breakfast, as well as a shamrock craft and song.
What do you have planned for St Patrick’s Day? Be sure and leave us a comment.
Looking for more resources? I have a huge St Patrick’s Day board over on Pinterest.
This post is linked to: Tot School, Sharing Time, Sunday Showcase, Share Your Sunday Best, Homemaking Mondays, Link and Learn,Hip Homeschool Hop,Magic Marker Mondays, Better Mom Mondays, Top Ten Tuesdays, Ten on Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Show and Tell, Creative Share, Works for Me Wednesday, The Mommy Club,Weekly Wrap-up at WUHS, House of Hepworths,For the Kids Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Home and Family Friday, Preschool Corner and Share Your Awesome.
This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support.
Dianna is keeping busy this spring cooking Baby 5.0 over at The Kennedy Adventures! She’s the host of Saints and Scripture Sundays – head over and join in! You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, as well as writing for Catholic Moms Online.
Love these ideas! I have a couple of those books, but not all of them. Now I need scour the local libraries and used book stores. Check out some of my ideas for St. Patrick’s Day over on Life at Le. Rheims!
Thanks for your kind words, Bridget!
I totally love the idea of using a green bell pepper as a stamp. I wish my girls were younger when they loved to do activities.
We have Irish heritage so this is one of our favorite holiday celebration days. I wish I had some fun idea’s to ad. This one is common I think, but we make cupcakes and put Lucky Charms cereal on the cupcakes with green sprinkles.
We also use to make a leprechaun trap with gold pieces we made from paper. Then you put it on the front porch or in a pile of clover with a stick and string. But you have to do it at night or you won’t catch one. But then again, what kid is awake at 3AM? lol
So much fun!
Isn’t it the cutest thing! I scoured Pinterest for most of my ideas — got an email today from Skip to My Lou about the shamrock shaving cream painting. We’re DEFINITELY doing that one!
These are great –thanks for sharing!
My mom’s family is all Irish and I’ve visited Ireland twice, as well as danced in a St Patty’s Day parade when I was little. I always like to break out some Irish music and celebrate. I think we might try that bell pepper stamping idea and check out some of the books.
Thanks for linking up to my St Patricks Day blog carnival!
Love the green pepper idea :)
Greetings from N Ireland!
Thank you for sharing your lovely collection of ideas at MMM! I particularly love the golden counting beans — we’re going to have to give those a try!
~Michelle @ 5MFSN