Kiddipedia
St Patrick’s Day may be known more for its beer than its family friendly activities but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a day of fun with the kids. From silly costumes to baking treats try these St Patrick’s Day ideas that the whole family will love and help get into the spirit of all things Irish.
- Make a leprechaun trap. They’re just like Christmases ‘Elf on the Shelf’. It’s a great crafting activity for the kids and a lot more straightforward than Elf on the Shelf in that you don’t have to keep moving the leprechaun around. Just find a place for the trap the night before St Patrick’s Day then the next morning look and see if any treasure or gold coins have been caught. There’s loads of inspiration on Instagram for design ideas. Kids will love it.
- Cooking or baking anything with added green will always go down well with kids. It’s simple because you can take a familiar recipe you already know Well and just add a green twist to it (just green food dye). Younger children will
- Crafting is always good for kids so try making a St Patrick’s Day card, leprechaun hats etc. It’ll keep the children entertained for a while and the designs are all simple – four leaf clovers, pots of gold etc.
- If you have a garden you have access to then a scavenger hunt or four leaf clover hunt is also great for kids. Just hide some Irish themed items (little clovers, stickers etc) and have the kids try to find them. Whoever gets the most wins a treat – a leprechauns golden (chocolate) coins.
- Wear green – it may sound a bit basic but you can get the children to dress up in all sorts of fun, green outfits. From leprechaun costumes to Irish dresses and silly beards. If you don’t want to buy anything, are the creative type and have time on your hands then you might even want to make or sew a costume yourself.
- You can take a common game or one you’re used to playing and add a St Patrick’s Day theme or twist to it. There’s even some St Paddy’s Day games designed specifically for children available – Luck o’ the Dice, St Patrick’s Day Bingo, Pot o’ Gold coin tosses.
- Planting a shamrock is a fun activity that children can do easily. Shamrock house plants are simple to pot and look after and will make a nice addition to any St Patrick’s Day parties or celebrations you have in the coming years.
- If you’ve exhausted all your ideas, or are just plain exhausted, then an easy go-to-way to keep the kids entertained (and quiet!) is a movie. Thankfully there are a lot of Irish movies that fit the bill, with ‘The Secret of Kells’ being a great irish, Oscar nominated, animated kids film.
These are just a few ideas to get you started but there’s so many more that will make your St Paddy’s Day fun for the whole family.
Sally Gibson is a writer, owner of Someone Sent you a Greeting and mum of 2. She enjoys crafting, jewellery making and is a bit of a Paul Simon obsessive.
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