Fun Family Activities For St. Patrick’s Day

Many people wear green on St. Patrick's Day, but there are lots of other ways to have fun celebrating with your family. Food, crafts, and games will help make your St. Patrick's Day great!
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<br>Make or buy sugar cookies, and decorate them for St. Patrick's Day. Spread them with white frosting, and then use tubes of decorating gel and colored candies to add shamrocks, rainbows, and pots of gold. This is also a good opportunity to teach your kids the order of colors in a rainbow. If you bake the cookies in advance, decorating them can be a fun activity for the whole family to do together.
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<br>Have a green dinner: Serve as many green foods as possible (salad, green beans, and pea soup are all healthy choices, or add green food coloring to foods to get the tint you want). For dessert, Use mint chocolate chip ice cream to make "leprechaun milkshakes." You can also make a shake by adding some peppermint extract and green food coloring to vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.
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<br>Here is an activity that is great for talking about shapes and making a cute St. Patrick's Day craft at the same time. Using black construction paper, cut out a 4-inch square. Then cut a rectangle about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. Glue the square to the rectangle to form a top hat. Using green construction paper, cut out three small hearts. Glue them onto the hat with the points together to form a shamrock. Cut a small green rectangle and add it as the stem. You can use glitter pens to write names and further decorate the hats. Add a magnet to the back to hang on the refrigerator, or just hang it on the wall for decoration.
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<br>Kids love scavenger hunts, so why not have them search for a pot of gold? Write clues on shamrocks cut out of green paper. If you have more than one child, you can either have them work together, or set up separate hunts for each child. The clues should lead them to the place where you have hidden the pot of gold. So, you don't have a real pot full of gold to give away? Be creative with your prizes. You can use yellow M&Ms, or candy in gold colored wrappers, like chocolate coins. You can also use gold jewelry for the prize. Use toy jewelry for small children, and a nicer watch, bracelet, or necklace for older kids. Yellow or gold colored hair accessories, stickers, t-shirts, and hats can also fill your "pot of gold."
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<br>Little children might enjoy a special present left by a "leprechaun"—look for St. Patrick's Day party favors like little hats or pots, and fill with small prizes. Leave these out on St. Patrick's day for the kids to discover. Warning: If you do this once, expect to do it each year!
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<br>Sprinkle "leprechaun dust" (aka gold glitter) around the house, so everyone can tell a leprechaun visited!
<br>St. Patrick's Day can be a lot of fun. With good food, crafts, games, and your imagination, you can go beyond the wearing of the green to celebrate with your family.
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