St. Patrick's Day Handprint Leprechaun

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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