St Patrick's Day
Hello! My name is Sarah and I am a children’s author and teacher. I am so excited about today’s theme as I love Saint Patrick’s Day. We have lots of exciting activities to join in with. I have written a lovely story for bedtime called Amelia’s Rainbow. That’s the time when you can relax under your favourite blanket.
Grown ups: Ask your child what they know about Saint Patrick’s day and look at pictures in books and on the internet to spark questions and conversations.
Talk about how this festival is celebrated every year on the same day in March. You might wish to show them film footage from YouTube of parades which have taken place in Ireland and around the world.
9.30am Activity:
Make a Leprechaun Hat
Why not make a fun hat that only a Leprechaun could wear! There are plenty of pictures on the internet to look at or perhaps you might want to design your own!
Remember to ask a grown up to help you with the tricky parts and especially when you have to cut things out.
Grown Ups:
Look at pictures of Leprechauns and discuss with your child what size the hat needs to be. Let them decorate the hat themselves. Templates can be found on the internet but using a round circle for a brim and a tube shape for the main part is all you need.
10.30am Activity:
Make a Shamrock
A shamrock is a beautiful plant and can be mainly found in Ireland. It is a fairly easy shape to draw but there are many templates to be found on the internet.
Today we are going to paint a picture of a shamrock and learn all about what this symbolises.
Grown Ups:
Talk about the shape of the shamrock and look at photographs of this plant. Ask your child how many leaves each shamrock has and tell them about the meaning behind them. Help them with cutting out their design and think about turning one shamrock into many and hang them around your house when Saint Patrick’s day arrives.
1:30pm Activity:
Make an Irish Flag
For this activity you are going to need paper or card and either paints or crayons.
Guess what? You will only need three colours!
Green, orange and white are the colours of the Irish flag and we are going to make our very own flag to hang up or display in a window.
Grown Ups:
Show your child some pictures of different flags. You can discuss the flags from countries around the world. Which ones do they recognise?
Talk about the rectangular shape in each part of the flag and let them decide whether to use paints or crayons or even squares of coloured paper to give a mosaic effect.
2:30pm Activity:
The Story of St. Patrick
Time to learn a little about who Saint Patrick was. Let’s find out where he came from and why we celebrate every March 17th.
Grown Ups:
Show your child a picture of Saint Patrick. Do they think this person lived a long time ago? Tell them a little about Ireland. You may live near a church which features a stained glass window of Saint Patrick.
If you've finished these and still have time for fun...
Here is another great craft idea. Siblings might enjoy helping younger family members and designing their own Leprechaun. Why not use recycled fabric and paper?
Grown Ups: Gather together a range of paper, card, paint, buttons, googly eyes, ribbon and felt so your child can make choices for their design. They can also try to draw around their hand or have help from a sibling.
Story time:
Amelia's Rainbow
