St. Patrick's Day: Show Your Children the Luck of the Irish

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? St. Patrick's Day sometimes gets past over because of the hype that gets brought to Valentine's Day and Easter. In our home, St. Patrick's Day is always one of my kid's favorites and one they remember the most. It takes effort to make the leprechaun magic come alive, but your children are only young for a short amount of time and the memories are priceless. The unique traditions are what your children will remember the most. Here are a couple ways you can bring the leprechaun magic to your home:  

Sensory Play

Build excitement for the holiday a week prior to March 17th. Sensory play is the perfect way to do that. We change up our sensory play for every holiday and this is one of my children's favorite themes.

1. Determine where you sensory play will be contained: You don't have to have a sensory table to engage in sensory play. You could use small bins, shoe boxes, large bowls, your tub, etc. 
2. Decide on base layer: One year I used rice and food coloring to dye it green. Another year I used different types of pasta noodles and acrylic paint to make a rainbow of color for sorting. 
3. Gather all the embellishments: These are all the little extras that your children can "find" through your bin and explore. I have a huge bin of embellishments that I use every year. Embellishments can be found at your local dollar store or even the bullseye section of Target. For St. Patrick's Day I have to following:
   1. Paper shamrocks
   2. Gold coins
   3. Pots for the gold
   4. Gold letters
   5. Green toys
   6. Cookie cutters
   7. A cut up "Lucky Charms" cereal box cover
4. Let them Explore and use their imagination: With all the sensory play my children engage in, they never once play with goodies the way I predict they will. Seeing their imaginative play come alive is exciting. It keeps them busy for hours.

Tip: Find a parent friend who will build a bin for their children with you: My "go to" friend is Rebecca, the Macaroni KID publisher for Bel Air, MD. I can always come to her with an idea and she is ready to jump on board to make the magic with me. It saves us both money and time. 

Scavenger Hunts, Leprechaun Traps, & Leprechaun Chaos

I like to read the story "How to Catch a Leprechaun" by Adam Wallace a couple days before the big day. My kids really enjoy this one. Each year they really want to catch that leprechaun. Make it a fun experience for them and have them build a leprechaun trap that they can engineer after reading the book. You can use recycled materials to save money. This brings out all the STEM vibes. They can set it the night before and hope for success in the morning.  

On March 17th, BRING IT with the leprechaun magic and chaos. Make it look like the leprechaun came and causes some trouble. I put green streamers all over, made the toilet bowl green, found leprechaun footprints from Amazon for the floor, and sprinkled gold coins and paper shamrocks all around the house. Finding the gold coins in the morning is always my daughter and son's favorite part. Make this a tradition that is unique to you and your family. 

Festive Food

St Patrick's Day is an event in our home. We even go wild with festive food. One year we made green pancakes and another year we did green eggs and ham. I grew up with my parents making corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day. This was something memorable for me because the smell of cabbage will forever linger in my nostrils.  We surprised our children's teachers one year with shamrock themed cookies and they were so excited. My kids really loved delivering them too.

If you take anything from this article, know that you are the memory maker. Life is short. Make moments that your children and you will never forget.