All the DAZE Productions: St. Patrick DAZE

Think Green

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and the Irish, was born about 385 A.D. in Northern Wales.
He studied religion in Europe to become a priest and bishop. He then brought Christianity to
the Irish by teaching in Ireland for 29 years. According to early Irish tradition, he died on March
17, 461 AD. The anniversary of his death is celebrated as Saint Patrick's Day. St. Patrick is
most known around the world as driving all the snakes out of Ireland through trickery.

The symbol of shamrocks: An Irish tale tells of how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to
explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom
of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

Green is associated with Saint Patrick's Day because it is the color of spring, Ireland, and the
shamrock.

Today St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 by the Irish as well as many Canadians with
parades, parties, wearing of green, Irish songs and jigs.

Art
Paper Plate Shamrocks
Materials: 3 paper plates, Green Crayons, Green Construction paper, glue, scissors
Instructions: Color all paper plates green. Cut a stem from green construction paper. Glue the
three paper plates together and in a triangle type shape. Then glue the stem at the bottom.

Sparkle Shamrocks
Materials: cereal box cardboard , pinto beans , green paint , paint brushes , scissors , glue,
glitter
Directions: Cut a large shamrock shape out of your cardboard . Glue the pinto beans onto the
shamrock . Let dry overnight . Paint Green & sprinkle with glitter

Coffee Filter Shamrock
Materials: coffee filter, 2 baby food jars, water, scissors, blue and yellow food coloring, q-tips
Instructions: Cut Coffee filter in the shape of a shamrock. Put water in two baby food jars. Add
yellow food color in one jar and blue in the other. Give the children Q-tips and let them mix the
colors on the coffee filter. You end up with a very interesting green Shamrock

Fruit Loop Rainbow
What You Need: Paint , Poster Board , Glue , Fruit Loops
What You Do: Use a large piece of poster board. Add food coloring or paint to the glue to
match the colors of the Fruit Loops cereal. Paint a rainbow on the paper with the glue. Have the
children sort and match the fruit loops and stick them to the corresponding colors on the
rainbow.

Lucky Mobiles
Materials:1 paper plate, Paper streamers or wide ribbon in rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow,
green, blue and purple)OR craft paint in rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and
purple) , Scissors , White craft glue , Piece of ribbon for hanging , Shamrock garland OR cut
your own shamrocks from green construction paper
Rainbow Mobile - Cut the paper plate in half. Cut a 40-inch length of streamer in each color.
Cut each length up the middle to create two long strips of each color. Reserve one set of
rainbow color strips for another project or for a second Rainbow Mobile. Use one strip of each
color. Glue the red streamer strip around the top curve of the paper plate. Make sure to center
the streamer so you have equal lengths hanging off each side. Repeat with each color, moving
your way down from red to orange, then yellow, green, blue and lastly purple. Add one more
thin purple strip to the back of the plate to fill the gap in the center. Tie a piece of ribbon into a
knot, then glue to the back of the plate to use as a hanger.

Shamrock Mobile
Cut the paper plate in half. Paint it with craft paint in this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue
and purple. Use our photo as a guide. Let dry completely and paint the other side as well. Cut
shamrock garland into 18" strips. Glue each strip to the back of the paper plate. If you like,
instead of store-bought garland, make your own shamrocks from construction paper and glue to
lengths of string or yarn. Tie a piece of ribbon into a knot, then glue to the back of the plate to
use as a hanger.

Shamrock
Cut a shamrock from construction paper. Glue pieces of green variegated tissue paper or
scraps of green paper on shamrock. Variations: Decorate with crayons, felt-tipped pens, or
paint. Cover shamrock with glue. Sprinkle with green glitter then remove excess.

Hearty Shamrock
Cut three hearts from green construction paper. Form shamrock by gluing points of hearts
together on a piece of paper. Draw stem.

Shamrock Prints
Cut green bell peppers in half, clean out the seeds, dip the cut side into some paint, and press
onto a piece of paper.

Magic Leprechaun glasses
green tag board cut into shamrock shaped sunglasses with green cellophane covering the eye
openings

Shamrock Tissue Paper Art
Need: Shamrock pattern traced on construction paper (1 per child) , green tissue paper , glue
Give each child his or her own paper with shamrock (or any seasonal
pattern) traced on it to fill the page. Put glue inside pattern and let
children spread it out with their fingers. Wipe off children's hands with
a wet wipe. Have green tissue paper cut into small squares (1" X 1" is a
good size) and placed in a bowl or dish. Let the children crumple up the
tissue and place the squares inside the pattern. After the glue has dried,
the pattern can be cut out, and hung on the walls or from the ceiling for
wonderful seasonal decorations. (Hint: It creates a neat effect if two or
more shades of tissue paper are used and over laped.)

Leprechaun binoculars
2 tp rolls stapled together and painted green. We will look for Leprechauns all day.
Filter Paper Shamrocks
Precut shamrock shape out of coffee filters. Mix water and yellow food coloring and place
mixture in a baby food jar. Do the same for blue. Let the children use eyedroppers to drip colors
on the filter shape. The colors will run together and make beautiful shamrocks.

SHAMROCK FINGER PUPPETS
For super-easy finger puppets, let your children draw faces on shamrock stickers with ballpoint
pens. Then help them attach their stickers to a fingertip. Encourage the children to have their
shamrock puppets "talk" to one another.

Shamrock Prints
Cut bell pepper in half and clean out the seeds. The children can dip the cross sections of the
pepper into some green paint and press the shamrock print onto paper.

Shamrock People
Materials: construction paper scissors Instructions: Cut large shamrock shape our of green
paper. Fold white paper accordion style for arms and legs. Cut small shamrocks for hands and
feet. Glue at ends of accordion arms and legs. Decorate large shamrock as a face.

Shamrock Wands
Materials: green construction paper scissors glue, stapler gold glitter green straw thin ribbon in
both green and gold Instructions: 1. Cut three heart shapes from the green paper. Glue the tips
of the three shapes together to form a shamrock. 2. Staple the center of the shamrock to the
end of the straw to make a handle 3. Decorate the shamrock with gold glitter 4. Cut three or
more 3 foot ribbons. Hold the ribbons together and staple them to the back of the shamrock at
the center so that the ends hang down from the shamrock wand. 5 Cut several tiny shamrocks
and staple them along the ribbons. Maybe your magic wand will help you catch a leprechaun!

Drama:
Tall and Small
Here is a giant who is tall, tall, tall.
Here is an elf who is small, small, small.
The elf who is small will try, try, try.
To reach the giant who is high, high, high.
Act out the movements as you sing. Stand tall, slowly sink to the floor, slowly rise, stand tall,
stretch and reach arms high.

Cut out 10 potato shapes out of brown paper and number them 1-10. Place them on the floor in
a row and have the kids jump from one to ten singing One potato, two potato, three potato
four...etc.

Games:
Lucky Leprechaun Says
How To Play: Played similar to Simon Says. The player up is "Lucky Leprechaun". Player will
say "Lucky Leprechaun says hop on one foot". The children will hop on one foot. Player will say
"Stop". The children are to keep hopping on one foot until player says "Lucky Leprechaun says
stop". Repeat for additional activities such as take one baby step forward, step backwards, turn
around, sit down. Sometimes Lucky Leprechaun will say "Lucky Leprechaun says" and
sometimes he won't. It's a fun game to play with young children.

SILENT SHAMROCK GAME
Invite your children to sit in a circle and show them a glittery shamrock shape. Have them close
their eyes while you display the shape where it can be easily seen. When the children open their
eyes, let them walk around searching for the shamrock. When they spot it, have them silently
come back to the circle. Let the first child to return explain where the shamrock is and then
display it for the next round of the game

Treasure Hunting
A leprechaun "lost" all his gold in our play spaces, he left us his pot and a reward notice saying
that if we could find all his gold and refill his pot by St. Pats Day, he would leave us a reward.
The children have been having a wonderful time finding the gold (gold spray-painted items -
anything I could think of - marbles, rocks, buttons, keys, feathers, spoons etc.). Each time they
find a piece of gold, they place it in the leprechauns pot and I give them a "Lucky Shamrock"
sticker to put on their cubby name label (we count how many items we have and how many
stickers each child has - Math). On St. Pats Day, the leprechaun will return at nap time and pick
up his small pot full of gold - and in return he will leave a large pot (a Halloween witch's
cauldron) full of a reward. The reward will consist of shamrock shaped cookies, a pitcher of
lemonade tinted green, festive cups and napkins, and a goodie bag for each child.

Leprechaun Mischief
While the children are out playing or before they arrive make some silly changes in the room
like putting things out of place, hiding things, leaving gold chocolate coins, etc. Leave green
footprints Blame it on the leprechaun when they come in. Explain all about St. Patrick's day and
leprechaun .

Fill a black pot (I use a Halloween witch's cauldron) with either gold foil covered chocolates that
look like coins, or gold foil wrapped Hershey's HUGS. To make the pot look really full, stuff the
bottom of the pot with crumpled newspaper and cover that with a piece of black construction
paper. Show the pot of gold to the children in the beginning of their session, then, when the
class is out of the room, ask a co-worker to hide all the "gold" and turn the pot upside down in
the center of the room. Have a note written on the chalkboard (in green chalk of course!) that
reads: "Have some fun and find my gold". Explain to the class that leprechauns are full of fun
and mischief and that they want to play a game! Find the hidden "gold" pieces and count them.
You can use both types of candy for this activity and then do a sorting activity. Let each child
take home one or two pieces of "gold".

Shamrock Hunt
Take children into back yard or a park and have them look for four leaf clover. We actually found
one last year!!!--- This can be done inside as well by making construction paper clover and 1
four leaf shamrock and have the kids try and find it.

Coin Hunt
Scatter gold chocolate coins in yard before children arrive and have fun searching for the "luck"
left by the leprechauns.

Language
St. Patrick's Day is with us,
The day when all that's seen
To right and left and everywhere
Its green, green, green!

Four Leaf Clover
by Ella Higginson (born in 1861)

I know a place where the sun is like gold
and the cherries bloom forth in the snow;
And down underneath is the loveliest place,
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

One leaf is for FAITH,
And one is for HOPE,
And one is for LOVE you know;
And GOD put another in for LUCK:
If you search you will find where they grow.

But you must have FAITH,
And you must have HOPE,
You must LOVE and be strong and so...
If you work and you wait,
You will find the place
Where the FOUR-LEAF CLOVERS grow!

Math
SHAMROCK COUNTING BOOKS
Use white or light green paper to make a blank book for each of your children. Number the
pages in each book from 1 to 5. Then hand out the books and invite the children to
rubber-stamp matching numbers of green shamrock prints on their book pages. Or give them
shamrock stickers to attach to their pages, if you wish.

SHAMROCK LINEUP
From green paper or felt, cut out a number of shamrock shapes in a variety of sizes. Invite your
children to sort through the shamrocks and arrange them in a line from smallest to largest or
from largest to smallest. Encourage them to count the number of shamrocks when they have
finished.

Shamrock Math
Cut out Shamrock shapes.. Place some in a little cup or bag. Have the child separate them by
color and count them.

Graphing
For preschoolers and up, buy jelly beans, or cut out colours of the rainbow. Place candy or
shapes in a little cup or bag. Have the child separate them by color and count them. Have the
child write how many colors they have of each color by filling in the squares. Make a worksheet
to go with this activity. To make the graph, on the left side of the paper, write a number (up to
the highest amount). On the bottom, make a square for each color. Make squares going up to
go to the top of the graph. Underneath the graph, write, "I had __ pink hearts, purple, green,
yellow, orange, etc. For older children, have them do percentages.

Music
Wee Little Patrick
( tune Yankee Doodle)
Patrick is a leprechaun
He has a sack of gold
He hides it in a special place
Between two stumps, I'm told
I think I once saw Patrick
Out in the woods at play
He smiled and laughed and winked his eye
And then he ran away
Don't try to follow Patrick
To find his treasure sack
He'll twist and jump and run away
And he never will come back

I'm a little Leprechaun
(sung to "I'm a Little Tea Pot")
I'm a little Leprechaun short and green
Here is my shamrock but I can't be seen,
When you pull my feather,hear me scream
(everyone scream)
I'm a little Leprechaun,short and green.
Shamrocks, shamrocks,
On Ireland's hills,
Greenest of greenOver rocks and rills
Good luck do they bring,
For one and all
On St. Patrick's Day
We can see them all.

I'm a little Leprechaun
(sung to I'm a Little Teapot")
Dressed in green,
The tiniest man
That you have ever seen.
If you ever catch me, so it's told,
I'll give you my pot of gold.

I'm Looking for a Leprechaun
(sung to: "Mary Had a Little Lamb" )
I'm looking for a leprechaun,
Leprechaun, leprechaun.
I'm looking for a leprechaun,
Do you know where he's gone?

He wears a suit that's made of greeen,
Made of green, made of green,
He wears a suit that's made of green,
Do you know where he's gone?

He lives by a rainbow and hides his gold,
Hides his gold, hides his gold,
He lives by a rainbow and hides his gold,
Do you know where he's gone?

If you see a leprechaun,
Leprechaun, leprechaun,
If you see a leprechaun,
Please tell me where he's gone!

Outdoor
The Leprechauns
When the children go outside to play they turn the chairs and tables upside down. When the
children take naps the leprechauns switch shoes around. On St. Patrick's Day the leprechaun
will write a note apologizing for the mischief he has caused and tell them where he has hidden a
pot of gold for them to find. They will follow the clues around the day care center until they find
the gold covered candy coins. Two weeks ago, a leprechaun "lost" all his gold in our play
spaces, he left us his pot and a reward notice saying that if we could find all his gold and refill
his pot by St. Pats Day, he would leave us a reward. Let the children find the gold (gold
spray-painted items - anything I could think of - rocks, buttons, keys, feathers, spoons etc.).
Each time they find a piece of gold, they place it in the leprechauns pot and I give them a "Lucky
Shamrock" sticker to put on. On St. Pats Day, the leprechaun will return at naptime and pick-up
his small pot full of gold - and in return he will leave a large pot (a Halloween witch's cauldron)
full of a reward. The reward will consist of shamrock shaped cookies, a pitcher of lemonade
tinted green, festive cups and napkins, and a goodie bag for each child. Some of the other
things we will be doing - the leprechaun will leave a green footprint trail to the pot, but we will
only be able to see the trail with our "magic glasses

Recipes: Snack Ideas
Leprechaun Pudding
Materials: one 1-ounce box of sugar free instant pistachio pudding for every five children, 1/2
cup of milk per child, 1 small resealable plastic bag per child, 1/2 cup measuring cup, 1 spoon
per child.
Put tablespoon of pudding mix in sandwich bag, add milk, then close the baggy and have kids
shake and squeeze, then eat.

St. Patrick's Day Punch
Two envelopes lime Koolaid, mixed as directed. Add one quart softened
pinapple sherbit. Last, put in one liter 7 up.

Science
Rainbows
Supplies: Shallow Dish, milk, food Coloring, Liquid Dish Soap
Place milk in a shallow dish and add drops of several different food colors around the dish. Add
a drop of liquid dish soap and watch watch what happens! Interesting chemical reaction!

Rainbow Bottle
Talk to your children about the legend of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and then let them
play with one Get several different densities of liquid (oil, water, alcohol, etc) and use food
coloring to die each one a different color. Put these in a bottle (oil then water then alcohol) and
let your children play with these bottles.

Sun Catchers
Use contact paper, sticky side up, and then have the children tear tissue paper and stick on it.
Next take eye droppers of water and squeeze on the tissue paper. Placeanother piece of
contact paper on top and press together. The water will make the tissue paper bleed for a neat
science experiment. Use different shades of green for St. Patrick's Day inspired sun catchers.