Leprechaun's Gold Dough Play

Materials
Yellow Play Dough
Rolling Pin
Rolling Pad
Round cookie cutters

Make a batch of yellow play dough inspired by leprechauns' gold!  Set out lots of round cookie cutters, along with a rolling pin and rolling pad.  All you need for a St. Patrick's Day dough play session!

St. Patrick's Day

We moved right on to St. Patrick's Day for our next round of art making inspiration!  Lots of green and rainbows for us in early March!

Planting Peas

For many St. Patrick’s Day is a good reminder that the ground is nearly ready for planting.  Our little patch of outdoors is all shade and rock, so we are observing the St. Patrick’s Day planting tradition by germinating seeds inside.  We are going to watch them carefully and tend to their needs.   When their first shoots appear we will plant them in pots and place them in our window.  They may not bear pea pods, but the process of taking a seed from packet to plant is fantastic for little ones.

Five Little Shamrocks Rhyme

FIVE LITTLE SHAMROCKS

One green shamrock, in the morning dew,

Another one sprouted, and then there were two.

Two green shamrocks, growing beneath a tree;

Another one sprouted and then there were three.

Three green shamrocks, by the cottage door;

Another one sprouted,

And then there were four.

Four green shamrocks, near a beehive

Another one sprouted,

And then there were five.

Five little shamrocks, bright and emerald green,

Think of all the luck these shamrocks will bring.

A Fine St. Patrick’s Day

A Fine St. Patrick’s Day by Susan Wojciechowski is a classic tale of kindness rewarded with kindness.  The towns of Tralee and Trala have an annual St. Patrick’s Day decorating contest.  Tralee always looses, but this year little Fiona Riley has a plan to win--paint the whole town green.   But when a stranger in distress arrives in Tralee they choose helping over winning and end up bringing home the trophy anyway.  It is a fantastic holiday story!

Sparkling Play Dough

I finally found a play dough recipe I like!  Makes and Takes has it here. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day I added a teaspoon of gold glitter to half and a tsp of green to half. I found the glitter at the dollar store. Hooray for inexpensive art supplies!

Shamrock Onesie

I bought these sweet crocheted shamrocks on etsy a few years ago.  Two years later I am finally putting them to use!  

St. Patrick's Day Cards

Most of our family lives out of town so we do a big mailing for holidays.  Since I never know when my two-year-old is going to be in the mood for a specific project, I try to start the cards early so we can get them out in time.  

I had a loose idea for St. Patrick’s Day—rainbows.   So on an unseasonable warm day a couple weeks ago, when we went out to the porch to paint I had these cards in mind.  Along with a bunch of other paintings that weren’t for this project, Noodle painted five construction paper sheets in their corresponding color—red on red, blue on blue, etc.   After they were dry we stuck them on a shelf till we were ready to make cards. 

On Sunday night I cut the construction paper paintings into strips of varying lengths.  We had some kelly green card stock that I cut in half and folded.  I glued the strips of paper onto the cards.  The lengths could be mixed and matched in any way.   I thought that we would add pots of gold, but I ended up liking them as is.  There is something a little modern, but crafty about them!