We love St. Patrick's Day around here, simply because our heritage makes us part Irish. Plus we love holidays, and there's just something fun about rainbows, leprechauns, shamrocks, and pots of gold. Do don't go all out, but my kids definitely know when I holiday is approaching.
Since my school children are out this week for Spring Break, I decided to keep them busy with some fun activities. The beginning of the week was warm, dare I say HOT outside, so we spent a lot of time outside. However, when we woke up today, we were a bit fooled because as bright and sunny as it was, it was bitterly cold out there. This mom is not a fan of the cold, so inside activities for us today!
Rainbows & Shamrocks Watercolor Garland
You will need:
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolor paint
- Paint brushes
- Baker's twine
- Hole puncher
- Scissors
- Tape
- Shamrock printout
- Rainbow printout
Because I only had really thin printer paper and super thick watercolor paper, I printed out the two pages (I had to shrink the rainbow down some), cut out one of the shamrocks, and the rainbow, and traced them onto the watercolor paper. However, if print onto card stock, you should be good.
I just simply let my kids paint as they wanted and let them cut them out, after they dried. Then, we punched two holes in the top of each one and threaded the baker's twine through. Lastly, hang it up anywhere you want.
We also had fun talking about the real meaning of St. Patrick's Day and finding Ireland on our new globe. Get yourself a globe! My kids love to look at that thing for hours! I see an atlas in our future as well.
I knew Elijah was going to struggle with cutting his own shapes out, so I cut his for him, and allowed him to cut my shamrocks instead. I really wanted to make sure that his rainbow and shamrocks got hung up, but I also wanted him to get the opportunity to cut as well. My sweet boy definitely needs a little more practice! He tried so hard though.
Of course, there are so many ways this can be done. The idea is to just have fun, am I right? If you don't have watercolors or any type of paint at all, use crayons, markers, or even allow your child to glue fabric scraps, for a fun twist.
If you make a fun St. Patrick's Day garland, I'd love for you to share it with me.
