6 Easy St Patrick’s Day and Shamrock crafts

St. Patrick’s Day remembers the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. This public holiday has grown into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special Irish foods, merry music, dancing displays, drinking and a  lot of green decorations. In this article you’ll discover 3 shamrock themed crafts, and 3 recipes for St Patrick’s Day themed food to enjoy. Make the most of the rainbow, pot of gold and shamrock images to create some festive decorations and cakes.

Saint Patrick’s Day  Lá Fhéile Pádraig is an annual holiday celebrated on 17 March.

It is named after Saint Patrick ( AD 387–493), the most commonly recognized of the Patron Saints of Ireland. Originally a Christian holiday, it became an official feast day in the early 1600s.

When it began, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue, not green. However over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick’s day grew.

One icon of St Patrick’s Day  is the Leprechaun. Leprechauns (or small-bodied fairy-like creatures) were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their  treasure-supposedly hidden in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. . On St Patrick’s Day, people may dress up as leprechauns. Leprechauns also have their own holiday on May 13th , but are also celebrated on St. Patrick’s.

The wearing of green ribbons and shamrocks in celebration of St Patrick’s Day began as early as the 17th century.  The reason behind the shamrock symbol is that it is believed that he used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish. The shamrock, which was also known as the “seamroy” by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it was symbolic of the rebirth of spring.

The shamrock is a symbol of Ireland. It is a three-leafed old white clover.

 

Here are some quick and easy shamrock decorations for your St Patrick’s day celebrations.

 Shamrock candle

You will need:

• An empty toilet or kitchen roll (one per child)
• White paint or paper
• Yellow paper
• green paper cut into shamrock shapes or shamrock stickers
• glue
• scissor

What to do:

1. Cover the toilet/kitchen roll in white paint or paper
2. Cut a flame shape from the yellow paper and stick to the top of the roll.
3. You now have a candle shape.
4. Decorate the candle by gluing on shamrock shapes or sticking on the stickers.

NOTE: there is no real flame in this candle.

Shamrock cut outs

You will need:

• Green paper or card
• Green tissue/ crepe paper
• green glitter
• glue

What to do:

1. Cut large shamrock shapes out of the green paper/card
2. Cover the entire shape with glue
3. roll crepe/ tissue paper into small balls and stick onto the shamrock shape
4. fill in the spaces between the paper balls with glitter.

Note: these look great stuck onto the front of a card.

Shamrock crown

You will need:

• A strip of green or white card long enough to go round your child’s head.
• Shamrock paper shapes or stickers
• green pipe cleaners
• glue
• scissors
• stapler

What to do:

1. Measure around your child’s head with the card strip. Mark the part where the ends will be stapled together in a crown shape.
2. Glue shamrock paper shapes onto the card strip.
3. Glue shamrock shapes half on/ half off of the top edge of the crown so that they stick up above the head.
4. Attach some green pipe cleaners to the top edge of the crown using staples.
5. Attach shamrock shapes to the top of the pipe cleaners so that they wiggle and stick out above the head.
6. Bend the whole strip into the crown shape and staple the ends together at the size marked off for your child’s head.

Rainbows are  a great way to teach colours, to reinforce the story of Noah’s ark , to learn about weather or to enjoy around St Patrick’s Day.

Here are some rainbow foods for you and your pre schooler to make together.

Rainbow jelly

What you need:

• Jelly powder or cubes in various colours
• clear moulds (I use drinking glasses), 1 per child.

What to do:

1. Follow the instructions on the packaging to make the jelly. Do one colour at a time.
2. pour a small amount into each mould and allow to set in the refrigerator.
3. Repeat this process for all the colours you have allowing each new colour to set before adding the next layer.

Rainbow cakes or cupcakes

What you need:

• use your favourite sponge recipe or cupcake recipe
• food colouring in various rainbow colours

What to do:

1. use your favourite sponge recipe or cupcake recipe
2. Make the cake batter.
3. Separate the batter into three (or more according to how many colour layers you want) and add food colouring to each bowl. Mix well.
4. Pour a layer of each colour into a loaf tin or spoon a teaspoon of each colour into your cupcake cases.
5. Bake according to recipe instructions.

Shamrock cookies

What you need:

• 345 g  plain flour
• 5g baking soda
• 2g baking powder
• 225 g butter, softened
• 300 g white sugar
• 1 egg
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• Green food colouring
• Icing sugar

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll dough and using shamrock shape cookie cutters, cut as many shapes as you can and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
4. Once cool, mix the icing according to the instructions on the package.
5. Cover the cookies in green icing.

Tip: you could add green food colouring to the cookie dough before you bake them for added greeness!