Guest Author - Diane Claus

Originally a Catholic Holy day, today people of all different cultural backgrounds celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a celebration of Irish culture. The green in the holiday represents Irish Catholics. If someone wears orange they are said to be Irish Protestants. St. Patrick was Catholic and green is the most common color seen on St. Patrick’s Day.


Fun facts about St. Patrick
-St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland
-St. Patrick introduced and spread Christianity throughout Ireland
-St. Patrick is said to have driven all the snakes from Ireland
-St. Patrick died on March 17th, 461


Four-Leaf Clovers
Ages 4 and up

You will need:
Green Construction Paper
Pencil
Scissors

The easiest way to make a four leaf clover is to fold a piece of green construction paper in half and draw two leaves and half a stem. You will want to make sure you draw your clover half against the folded part of the paper. This will give you half a clover. Cut on the line you drew, unfold and you have a simple four-leaf clover! You can make your clovers as big or as small as you want.


Place Mat
Ages 4 and up

You will need:
Green Construction Paper (for the clovers)
Any Colored Construction Paper (for the background)
Pencil
Scissors
Chalk
Glue

Make a large enough clover so you can create a St. Patrick’s day scene on it. With chalk create a St. Patrick’s Day scene on it. Then paste your clover to another piece of construction paper and laminate it. You now have a St. Patrick’s day place mat.


Clover Crown
Ages 4 and up

You will need:
Green Construction Paper
Black Construction Paper
Glue
Scissors

Fold a piece of green construction paper, fan style making each stripe about two inches wide. Cut out either a three or four leaf clover about two inches high. Set aside the clover and make another three or four leaf clover about the same size on the other end of the paper. Set aside with the other clovers.

Take the black sheet of construction paper and cut it long ways, into strips two and a half to three inches high. Take the strips of black paper and lay them end to end. Glue the strips together, over lapping them about one inch. Typically only two strips are needed.

Add a small amount of glue to the clovers and glue them onto the black paper. You want to glue your clovers side by side all the way around the crown. Once you have reached the end allow the glue to completely dry.

After the glue has dried, wrap the paper around the child’s head to get a proper fit. After it has been fitted just glue the ends together at that spot to make a crown.

Pot of Gold