5 Simple and Fun St. Patrick's Day Activities

As I sit here typing this right now, I hear the birds chirping, smell the lingering skunk smell, notice the bulbs sticking out of the ground, and know spring is on the way.  However, there is one very important celebration that must take place before spring can fully arrive...and that would be St. Patrick's Day!  Being that I am mostly Irish, I take this holiday seriously.

Here are 5 simple things that we have done thus far to welcome St. Patrick's day.

1.  Rainbow Rice

I love making sensory buckets for the boys.  I love using various materials, but I always seem to come back to rice.  Yes, it is a pain to clean up.  BUT, it is very easy to dye a variety of colors.  I made every color of the rainbow out of food coloring, and put in 1 TBS of rubbing alcohol to help the rice fully absorb the colors.  I originally intended on making a rainbow out of it in the sensory bin, but I accidentally dropped one of the colors, and it was all mixed up anyway.  Not only were the boys happily working on scooping, pouring, and all of those great fine motor skills, but they were loving picking out all of the different colors.

2.  Rainbow, rainbow, way up high...

We love to play I spy.  It has entertained us for many a car ride, bike ride, walk, etc., and it is great for color recognition as well as recognizing what is around us in nature.  To make this more for St. Patrick's day, we put a rainbow spin on it.  What we say is, "Rainbow, rainbow, way up high, I see something (insert color) in the sky."

3.  Leprechaun Traps

I had honestly never heard of these before my 10 year old cousin explained them to me.  But, they sounded pretty cool so we started making them.  My goal was to use recycled materials I already had in the house, such as toilet paper tubes, yellow construction paper, glitter, etc.  The whole goal of this project is to try and trap that tricky leprechaun that iso  after your pot of gold!

We started by painting the toilet paper rolls green, sprinkled with glitter, and let dry.  Since then we have cut out gold coins, that we will decorate to make attractive with glitter in a little bit.  Then we will create our trap.  Pierce and I are thinking that we will lead a trail of gold coins and cover the tube with green shiny stuff.  We need to close off the back side of the tube and make a trap door.  That was the game plan for yesterday, before we abandoned school and went to the beach.  :)  Maybe tomorrow.  And if not, then Friday.

4.  Dress like a Leprechaun

We have not done this YET, but I found these amazing leprechaun beards and mustaches at Target, and had to get them.  There is a possibility that I am running a 5K with the boys on Sunday, so we are going to dress up like leprechauns.  And if we don't run the 5K?  Why not have a dance party at the house with some Irish music (also available at Target), some colored scarves, and just be fun?  I am certainly looking forward to it.  :)

5.  Watch a Parade

For some reason, St. Patrick's Day parades are so much fun.  Maybe it is because we know spring is coming, maybe it is because everybody seems to think they are Irish.  Whatever the case may be, it is always fun to be at the parade.  One of the largest parades in CT is the New Haven St. Patrick's Day parade.  This year it is on March 16, 2014 and can be found here.  I will be marching with the boys in the Hoosik Falls St. Patrick's day parade on March 15.  :)


What are some of your top recommendations for St. Patrick's Day?