With a last name like O’Connell, we can’t avoid getting a little into St. Patrick’s Day around here. If you’d like to make the holiday extra special, I’ve rounded up a few activities and crafts you can do with your little one to get into the spirit!
Make Lucky Charm Marshmallow Treats
You may have seen our heart shaped Rice Krispy treats on our 14 Valentine’s Day Activities for Toddlers + Kids but this one has a little extra sweetness.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 10 oz of mini marshmallows
- 6 cups of Lucky Charms cereal
Optional: stick with Rice Krispies cereal and only use Lucky Charm marshmallows
Instructions:
- Melt butter and marshmallows in a pan on low heat until combined; add in two drops of red food coloring if you’d like and mix
- Move butter/marshmallow mix into a bowl and gradually add in cereal until everything is covered
- Lay out mixture into a pan or baking dish and press out evenly based on your thickness preference
- Let cool before cutting into yummy blocks. Enjoy!
Coloring sheets
Download and print these festive and FREE St Patrick’s Day coloring sheets from Crayola’s website!
Counting shamrock game
Cut out our own or pick up some of these glitter paper cut out shamrocks from Michael’s and count them for a fun educational game with your toddler. If you’re kid is a little bit older, flip them over and write out the numbers and have them put them in sequential order.
BONUS: tape them down in hopscotch form and keep the fun going!
Water play
We love our Step 2 water play table and thankfully live in a warm state where we can use it most of the year. To spice things up for St. Patrick’s Day, add a little green food coloring and let them go to town as usual! The little change will make a big impact on making them feel like it’s a new toy.
Is it too cold or raining? Turn your bathtub water green!
Paper plate rainbows
This is a simple and classic craft that you can do with supplies you already have around the house!
Supplies:
- White paper plate
- Paint (at least red/yellow/blue)
- Cotton balls
- Glue
- Scissors
- Pencil (optional)
Instructions:
- Cut paper plate in half and then a small semi circle in the middle to create the rainbow arch.
- Paint from the top of the arch in ROYGBV order . Tip: faintly draw in lines for each color to help guide your toddler.
- Once the paint dries, “fluff” your cotton balls by pulling them slightly apart to make them look more cloud-like. Glue your “clouds” at either end of your rainbow.
Play-doh with cut outs
I discovered iHeartNapTime’s homemade play-dough recipe and loved how easy (and toddler safe) it was. To keep in line with the lucky theme, I recommend one large blank batch and then breaking them into smaller ones to create a rainbow assortment. I also picked up these St Patrick’s Day cookie cutters to cut the dough into different shapes (but maybe hold back on the beer cut out 😉 ).
Other ideas I didn’t get to but will follow up with next year:
- Paper plate Leprechaun mask
- Sensory bin
- Scavenger Hunt (free download)
- Tear paper shamrock/mosaic
The Petite Greek 