If you’re lucky enough to spend St. Patrick’s Day with young kiddos, here are some fun ideas for you!
- Start the Morning off with Shamrock Pancakes! Simply by adding green food coloring to the pancake mix you can turn an ordinary breakfast into a fun holiday treat! Make a shamrock either by making 3 small pancakes & a line for the stem and arranging them into a clover- or if you want to get real fancy you can form it right in the pan using a squeeze bottle.
- Hide Plastic Gold Coins in the house or the backyard for a fun & simple game. You can find these coins at the dollar store, target, walmart or online easily. Here’s a link: Fake Gold Coins
- Make a sweet keepsake by painting your kiddo’s feet green & making a 4 leaf clover! You can add the message “So Lucky to Have You” underneath along with the date. This would make a cute surprise for grandma & grandpa or spring decor for your living room.
- “Riverdance” in the safety nonjudgmental zone of your living room! It’ll be a fun way to get a workout for you & burn some energy for your kids! Here’s a 2 hour playlist of pleasant celtic music to jump around to: 2 Hours St. Patty Music
- Make RAINBOW fruit popsicles OR fruit kabobs! Cocomelon even has an entire song about it that you can play to get them excited. Link: Cocomelon Rainbow Popsicles
- To make the popsicles you will need
- Fruit of various colors of the rainbow (and maybe some food dye if you want the colors to be more vibrant). I suggest strawberries, orange juice, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries (with blue food coloring) and purple grape juice
- You will also want a popsicle ice tray like this: Popsicle Freezer Mold
- You need to add the fruit one at a time, freezing each layer for at least 30 minutes (in order to see the rainbow layers), so this is a fun activity to do throughout the day, but not in one sitting.
- To make a fruit kabob you just need skewers and the cut up fruit. It’s less time consuming, however I would advise the popsicles for YOUNGER kids, and the skewers for OLDER calmer kids because the sticks very sharp points.
- If you don’t have popsicle trays, spend too much time or want to risk it with sharp objects, just making a rainbow fruit salad is also a great option!
- To make the popsicles you will need
- Here’s a fun video for kids to stomp and clap in rhythm while learning a little bit about St. Patrick. St. Patrick Percussion Video
- Make a Shepherd’s Pie together! Here’s a link to my favorite youtube chef Laura Vitale (also a new mama) : Shepherd’s Pie
- Make LEPRECHAUN juice! This is a sneaky way to get some fruits & veggies in. Add 1 green apple, 1 handful of spinach, juice of 1 lime, kiwi, some ice and 1/4 cup of water to a blender. It’ll be sweet from the kiwi & apple- but if you need to sweeten it a little more you can add a pinch of apple juice or more apple. Make some for yourself too!
- Visit Irish 31 for Dinner & get some Irish Stew or fish n chips! Happy Hour is from 3-7pm, the patio is Pet Friendly so you can bring Sparky too, AND you can enter your kiddo into a coloring contest to win a $50 gift card! The server will provide your little with paper to color while you dine in, the contest ends 3/20/2022. Visit their website for more information of the Oviedo location: https://irish31.com/paddyfest/
- Tell the story of St. Patrick, there’s a reason he’s a saint! Here’s a short two minute informative video made for kids that talks about who Saint Patrick was and explains the significance of clovers & the color green. It mentions prayer & faith since he was a priest. Kids 2min Video Intro to Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick was captured at 16, enslaved for 6 years, escaped, and then came back to Ireland as a free man to spread faith, hope & love with such an impact that the entire country memorialized him with a holiday that we still acknowledge today.
A lot of us don’t feel so lucky with all the recent events- but come to think about it, Saint Patrick didn’t have such a “lucky” life either did he.
With so much going on in the world today, I think it is the hope of many parents that our children would be strong enough to overcome great obstacles and still show kindness to everyone. Today is not about fictional leprechauns & finding pots of gold- it’s about a real man who made a big difference with little clovers and a compassionate heart. We don’t need a lot to make a big difference, we just need to care a lot. Take time to share your values today with your kids while having a good time today. By raising a strong and caring child you will honor Saint Patrick’s memory best. Cheers.