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      • Winter Holiday Books >
        • Oscar the Kitten Review
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      • All About the Arts for Kids
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      • Dinosaurs
      • Jr History Detectives
      • Knights & Dragons
      • Mad About Science
      • Outer Space Page
      • Pirates! Arrr!
      • Superheroes
      • Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Ships
      • Princess and Fairies Page
    • Kids Camps >
      • Camp Tour Dates & Open Houses
      • Summer Camps by theme
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      • Koddler Events New Feed
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      • NJ Spraygrounds & Water Parks
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      • County Parks in NJ
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      • Zoos by county
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St. Patrick's Day Handprint Leprechaun 

3/15/2016

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Picture
Materials Needed:
  • Tan and orange paint
  • Paint brush or sponge
  • Piece of white paper
  • Pieces of black, green and yellow paper
  • Hole punch
  • Craft Glue stick
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Black marker

This craft was inspired by one of several St. Patrick's Day crafts posted by Elizabeth Lauren Art.

I was not brave enough to try this craft with my 5-year-old son who is not, shall we say, as creatively minded or patient. So I enlisted by 9-year-old daughter to try this out. It can be done with a younger child, with some patience and guidance.
  1. Apply tan paint to the child's palm with a paint brush or sponge and then quickly apply the orange paint to the fingers and base of the palm. You have to move quickly or the paint will dry!! Even then, you may have trouble. The first time we placed her hand on the paper, almost none of the tan "face" appeared and half the fingers looked sparse. So we had to re-apply the paint to her hand and do it a second time. Even then, she had to take a paint brush and fill in the face with tan paint because it looked weird.
  2. Let the paint dry and work on the hat. Use a pencil to draw a rectangle and then a square on top to make the hat. Doesn't have to look pretty as you can flip that side over. Use the scissors to cut out. 
  3. Draw and cut a rectangle out of the black paper. Glue the black rectangle to the green paper hat.
  4. Draw and cut a small square out of the yellow paper. Glue to the black strip on the hat. Use a marker to draw a square to complete the buckle.
  5. For a younger child or less artsy one, have them draw a circle on the black paper for the bottom of your pot of gold and then a rectangle at the top for the lip. The rectangle can even be separate and glued later. Or draw the pot freehand. 
  6. Glue the pot to the bottom of the paper.
  7. Use the hole punch to punch little gold pieces from the yellow paper. Apply your glue to the pot and background paper and then place your "gold" on the glue.
  8. Your leprechaun should be dry by no so you can apply his hat with glue. 

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Finger Paint Pot of Gold for St. Patrick's Day

3/15/2016

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Picture
Materials Needed:
  • Piece of white paper
  • Piece of black paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Sparkly paint or glitter glue
  • Paint in various colors or Dot Paints
  • Plate or paint palette
  • Pencil (optional)
  • Paper towels for clean up
This idea was inspired by the North Branch Reformed Church Preschool. ​
This is a craft that all ages can enjoy. You can use Dot Paints or in our case, my 5-year-old used his fingers, to make a great keepsake.
  1. Use a pencil to draw a U-shape on the black paper from one edge of the paper to the other. 
  2. Take the scissors and cut along the line and you have your lucky pot.
  3. Glue the pot to your white piece of paper with the flat part up.
  4. Pour the first color of paint onto your plate or palette. Dip a finger in, lightly dab on a paper towel before applying to the white paper. (Or if you use Dot Paints, then just dab dots on the paper). You can go in an arc like a rainbow, a zig-zag, a straight line or whatever your child's preference is.
  5. Repeat with the next color and so on until you have used all your colors.
  6. Take glittery paint or glitter glue and spread along the top of your pot to make it shiny.
Picture
Cutting out the pot, wearing a Rudolph nose - just because.
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St. Patrick's Day Crafts

3/3/2011

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Here are some resources that help kids celebrate green! Don't forget to check out our recommended reading.

ParenthoodNJ Crafts - including our Shamrock Mouse
DLTK Growing Together - St. Patrick's Day activities including dot-art printables, coloring pages, games and more
Enchanted Learning - St. Patrick's Day crafts & activities
KinderArt - St. Patrick's day projects including a Shamrock mask and printable coloring pages

Craft books:
Crafts for St. Patrick's Day by Kathy Ross

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St Patricks Day Crafts - Shamrock Mouse

3/3/2011

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Picture
Felt Shamrock Mouse
Items Needed:
(see below for alternate materials)
* piece of green felt
* piece of pink felt
* pink pom pom
* googly eyes or felt or paper eyes
* black yarn or pipe cleaner
* craft glue
* scissors
* black marker
* magnet (optional)



Recommended for preschoolers & older (although adults will need to help with scissors for younger kids)

I discovered this craft in Crafts for St. Patrick's Day by Kathy Ross and my 4-year-old and I decided to give it a try. Now, I'm often unprepared for our impromptu craft sessions so there are suggested alternatives to the items needed, depending on what you have and your child's preference. The steps for completing this project are basically the same, regardless of the materials used.

First cut out a shamrock shape from your green felt (or paper, see below). If you're like me and can't really draw, you can trace a template from online and use that to cut your shape. Young children will need help cutting this shape, especially if you're using felt.

Then draw and cut out the inner ears from the pink felt or paper. These are basically a heart shape.

Your child can then glue the inner ears to the shamrock shape and then attach the nose. Whether you use googly eyes or make your own out of felt or paper, your child can glue those next. (Note: the larger eyes look best; we tried smaller ones and the mouse looked a bit shifty).

Then glue the whiskers and your St. Patrick's Day Mouse is complete.

Alternate Materials:
- if you don't have felt, you can do this entire project with paper and yarn. Just use colored paper for the shamrock, eyes, nose and ears and yarn for the whiskers
- if you don't have googly eyes, you can make eyes out of white felt or paper; just cut out two circles and then use a black marker to make the pupils
- Kathy Ross' book called for yarn for the whiskers but my daughter wanted to use a black pipe cleaner. Just cut it to desired length, bend and glue onto the face
- if you don't have a small pom pom you can cut out the nose from a piece of leftover pink felt or paper
- you can turn this into a festive magnet by attaching a small magnet to the back



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    Sandra K. Lee is a freelance writer and stay-at-home mom with a 8-year-old princess & a 4-year-old superhero in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

    She also writes Momoirs and other blogs at NJ.com and the NJ Moms Blog.

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