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Rochester Local

St. Patty’s Day-The Fun and Easy Way!

shamrocks

I LOVE doing activities with my kids. However, I love it even more if the activities are low prep and minimal cleanup. I’m sharing a few quick and easy St. Patrick’s Day activities we like to do in our house. 

Green Jello Sensory Play

Appropriate age: 6 months-2 years, but older kids can enjoy this as well! 

Make green Jello the day before. I used 2 boxes of lime Jello in a 9×13 clear pan. Lay down a dollar store shower curtain, undress baby down to a diaper and let them have at it! You may want to give them some spoons or measuring cups to scoop if they’re not so sure about digging right in. My little one has no qualms about going in elbow deep! 

If you’re looking to up the age level, you can put gold coins in it to have the kids dig out and count. Or, you could give your kiddos cookie cutters to make silly shapes and play with them. 

Marshmallow Shamrocks

kids doing shamrock craft

Appropriate age: 1.5 years-up

When I set this activity up, I have a small sheet of paper I model for the kids on before getting them going! You need green paint (we use washable Crayola paint), jumbo marshmallows and paper. Have your child dip the marshmallow in green paint and use as a stamp to create a shamrock! If you’d like a little stem, you can put a little paint on your finger or a Q-tip and paint a little stem on the bottom. I have my kids make as many shamrocks as they’d like on each page. 

A fun extension would be to paint or draw on a silly face once your shamrocks have dried! You can also do this activity with smaller children as long as you do hand over hand with them. 

Be sure to save a few marshmallows for a sweet treat when you’re all done painting! 

 

Froot Loop Rainbow 

Appropriate Age: 1-up 

These are some great activities for all ages! You could go younger than 1, but you’ll want to monitor taste testing. Froot Loops are a must in our house. We don’t eat them for breakfast, but we do SO MUCH with them during learning/craft time! When I think of St. Patrick’s Day, I think of rainbows and pots of gold-hence our favorite rainbow-colored cereal! 

Before we begin doing any crafting, we talk about a rainbow. I have several different rainbow pictures we look at, and the kids start learning the order of the colors. Then, we work on sorting by color. I give each child a little bowl with Froot Loops, and we work together to sort by color. If they’re older, they can do this independently. Now that they’re all sorted, you have a few different options. 

You can make a rainbow cereal necklace. Kids can string Froot Loops onto a string and wear it around. Make sure you help your kids get the colors in order! 

Another idea is to glue the Froot Loops in the shape of a rainbow onto a piece of construction paper. This can work on several different skills for your older kids-properly using glue bottles, fine motor skills at placing cereal on the glue dots and ordering colors! At the end of the rainbow, glue several cotton balls to make your cloud! Quick and easy as can be! 

Green Food Taste Testing

Age: 9 months and up 

This is a favorite! We all know green is the color of St. Patrick’s Day. SO, I take a walk around the grocery store and find several different foods that are completely green! Some ideas include broccoli, celery, green grapes, honeydew, kiwi, lime, green pepper, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, avocado, pea pods, cucumbers, green apples. I usually choose food items that do not need to be cooked. Remember how I said I like quick and easy?! 

After I’ve gathered at least 6 different foods, I place 6 little cupcake liners on a plate. Then I fill each cup with a different green food. Now, it’s taste- test time! For my younger kids, they taste and then we talk about different taste sensations-what does the food feel like in my mouth, what does it look like, etc. For my older kids, we talk about sweet, salty, bitter, texture. We also have our older kids do a little chart. Even my 2-year old can do this! We draw a picture of the food and either draw a smiley face next to it or a sad face. 

I have found the key to fun activities to engage my kids is that less is more! Let them play and explore without a lot of direction and structure in the activities. You may be surprised at the creative imaginations they use! 

 

 shamrocks

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