St. Patrick's Day Craft for Kids
Simple Children's Activity Guide for How To Make a Pot of Gold
Mar 4, 2008
Get ready for St. Patrick's Day with a creative craft filled with a wealth of kindness and good deeds. Your little leprechauns will be busy earning lucky pennies to put into their very own pot of gold. But what will happen when a "real" leprechaun finds the treasure on March 17? Make this fun craft and you'll find out.
Materials
- One plastic yogurt cup
- Poster paints
- St. Patrick's Day stickers or clip art
- One pipe cleaner
- Multi-colored beads (the colors of a rainbow)
- Scissors
Directions
- Paint the outside of the yogurt cup in the color of your choice. Green is festive for St. Patrick's Day. Or your child might prefer black so that the yogurt cup truly resembles a pot. Sparkling gold is nice to give the illusion of a treasure. Whatever color you choose, apply one to three coats of paint until the yogurt cup is completely covered.
- Once the paint is dry, you may add further decorations with paint, markers, stickers, or clip art. Consider shamrocks, leprechauns, gold, and rainbows.
- Using one end of the scissors, carefully poke two small holes into the cup. The holes should be directly across from each other, just under the rim.
- Create a rainbow handle using the pipe cleaner and beads. First, poke one end of the pipe cleaner through the outside of one of the holes in the cup. Place one bead on the pipe cleaner from the inside of the cup. Twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the bead to hold it firmly in place.
- You will now see most of the pipe cleaner extending out of one side of the yogurt cup. Begin stringing rainbow colored beads onto it. If you want to make your rainbow authentic, repeat this pattern: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
- Continue stringing beads onto the pipe cleaner until you have enough to arc over the cup like a rainbow. Put the end of the pipe cleaner into the other hole, through the outside of the cup.
- Place one bead on this end of the pipe cleaner from the inside of the cup. Trim off the excess pipe cleaner, leaving only one or two centimeters to wrap around the inside bead.
Leprechaun Gold
Now that your kids have their very own pot, they will need to fill it with gold. Each time you catch them doing something good, like following a direction, sharing a toy, cleaning up, or doing a kind deed, give them a penny to put into their pot. Kids will enjoy the encouragement and accomplishment of good behavior. In the wee hours of March 17, while the children are asleep, you just might be visited by a leprechaun in search of gold. Those tricky little fairies might even replace the pennies with chocolate coins. Yum!
Kids can also use their pot of gold for a fun treasure hunt game. To learn more, read Leprechaun Games for Kids.
Encourage a sense of play, creativity, and good behavior this St. Patrick's Day. Make a pot of gold with your kids.
