Shamrocks
Are you sick of these marshmallow crafts? I hope not because I love them! The novelty of using marshmallows as a craft material can intrigue even the least interested little crafter. We did this last week when we had an unexpected but very fun playdate . It was fun to see how exciting the marshmallows were for my son’s friend who’d never made crafts with them before. It’s a fun way of adding some counting and fine motor skills into a simple St.Patrick’s Day craft.
- Gather your materials. You will need some sturdy paper ( my fave are brown grocery bags), some multi colored mini marshmallows, a marker, green crayons or markers, scissors and white glue.
- Start by cutting open your bag and drawing a shamrock.
- Color it. We used all different shades of green because I have been teaching my son about how a color can have many shades and doesn’t always look exactly the same. Also it’s pretty.
- The boys had a race to see who could color the fastest – they both won, my table did not.
- Add the glue along the outline.
- Add the marshmallows.
- How we avoid too many marshmallows going into little mouths is to give numbers they have to reach and count on the shamrock before they can eat one.
- Let dry.
- Cut around the shamrock.
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St. Patrick’s Day is coming and the kids and I made these cute four leaf clover bouquets. The idea for this craft struck me when I was making a Valentine’s Day heart wreath. All you will need are toilet paper rolls, green paint, green chenille stems, scissors, and a hole punch.
Have your little one paint the toilet paper roll with the green paint. Be sure to get it covered inside and out.
Once dried (we let ours dry overnight) bend the roll in the shape of a heart.
Use your scissors (big kids can cut this, but little ones will have a very hard time) to cut slices a little less than an inch wide.
Use your hole punch to make a hole very close the the bottom tip of the heart.
You can have your little one thread a chenille stem through the holes on four hearts. Then turn the end and twist it to the stem tightly. Be sure to fold the exposed tip over to avoid the metal poking your child.
This is the final result. I wanted to get pictures of my daughter threading the hearts and holding the clovers, but we were having a toddler meltdown moment about getting our picture taken.
These make great four leaf clover wands, you know to turn things green or make rainbows appear. You can use them for decoration. You can always use your four leaf clovers for something more fun. Like maybe something to diffuse a toddler meltdown…a silly mommy.
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
Friendship is something that should be cherished and making something special for a friend is a great way to show friends how much they mean to you. Shrinky dinks can be found at any large craft store or here Shrinky Dinks Craft Kit
- Gather your materials. You will need some shrinky dink paper, black and green colored pencils, a hole punch, a brown grocery bag ( or parchment paper), a cookie sheet , scissors and some ribbon or chain.
- Start by drawing some shamrocks- I can’t hide the fact it took me a while to get it right .
- Next color it green.
- Cut out
- Punch a hole in it.
- Place it on the paper bag on the cookie sheet and place in the oven ( follow the instructions given for the temp).
- Watch the WHOLE time. It only takes a minutes or two.
- Let cool.
- Thread the ribbon through and give someone you care about some luck of the Irish!
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What is more Irish than potatoes and appropriate for those under 21 ? Nothing ! This is a perfect St.Patrick’s activity for young toddlers and those just starting out with art. I am using a stamp pad because we already painted a bunch this week but paint will work well too, just spread it thin on a plate . After this simple project my son begged for “gooey goop” so he added his own final step onto the easy peasy shamrock !
- Gather your materials. You will need a few new potatoes they fit perfectly in your child’s hand! Paper, a marker, scissors and a stamp pad.
- Draw a shamrock on the paper with the marker.
- Cut the potatoes in half, this can also be a fun way to learn about ovals, the cut potatoes make perfect little ovals!
- Start stamping !
- My son got very into it- and was slamming the potato into the paper, with the stamp pad this is okay but with paint this would result in a major mess.
- Cut out when dry.
- If you want you can grab whatever you have to embellish it, my son asked specifically for the glitter, so I wasn’t about to say no.
- This is the upgraded one after my son added his personal touch of green and gold “gooey goop” ( glitter glue).
Book!
How could I let a holiday go by without a garland? I love decorating with garlands .What makes this one so fun is that it’s made with coffee filters. The surface absorbs the paint well and when it’s dry it really looks like a leaf. Add a little glitter and you have a perfect and inexpensive St.Patrick’s Day decoration.
- Gather your materials. You will need multiple coffee filters,some yellow and blue paint, a paintbrush, some gold glitter, sharp scissors, and some green ribbon .
- Start by cutting your coffee filters into shamrocks. With really little toddlers I would draw a shamrock and let them paint it then cut out, painting on the small shamrocks is a challenge , they have to be careful and for a young toddler it would prove to be really frustrating which isn’t what we want.
- Mix your green paint. When activities are shorter like this one I like to have my son mix the paint, he loves it too!
- Paint your shamrocks
- Let dry
- Add the gold glitter and let dry.
- Poke 2 small holes in each shamrock, I alternated between the top and the stem.
- Thread the ribbon through
- Hang up and enjoy!
