Going Green for St Patrick

March 17th, we are going green for St. Patrick!  This year, St. Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday and I am looking forward to some special fun in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, dear old St. Patrick.  Not much is known of this bishop but what they do know is interesting.

St. Patrick was captured in Wales by Irish raiders and enslaved.  Six years later, St. Patrick escaped and returned to his family.  He eventually entered the church and later served as a bishop in Ireland, although no one really knows where.  March 17th is the day of St. Patrick's death and is celebrated in religious and secular ways throughout the world.

So, to honor this saint, we are going green.  I will post recipes and details closer to the holiday.  For now, here is the plan:

The Menu
Breakfast:  Rainbow Fruit Salad, Holy Irish Boxty (Irish Potato Pancakes), sausage

Lunch: Luck-O-the-Irish Bento with Turkey rolls, Parsley-Basil Pesto Sauce, Cucumbers, pears, and Lucky Rice Balls from rice, chives, broccoli, and a surprise in the middle.  For the surprise, I used a Leprechaun baby, a green Dduk ball, a piece of steamed beet, or a piece of steamed carrot.

 Snack: Pot of Gold Snack

Dinner:  Slow-cooked Corned Beef Brisket, Steamed Baby Potatoes, Grilled Cabbage



Activities

A Walk through the Glen (or Botanical Garden, in our case): Visit a new park or local garden.  Challenge things in all of the colors of the rainbow.  And, how many grean things can you find?  Is there anything on your walk that you might cherish as much as gold?

Pot O Gold Math Game:  I also think that this game would work well to practice addition and subtraction.  You could make a spinner and put "+1" or "-2" and the children must calculate the correct amounts.  If you have two different colored dice, you may do the same by making one color for addition and the other for subtraction.  The children roll the dice to see what they do.

Fool's Gold Game 


Coloring Carnations

Take a Green Bath:  Run a tub of water for bathtime.  Turn out the lights, pop some green glow sticks and throw them in for lots of green fun. For a fun treat, throw in a few gold coins cause you never know what your leprechaun might leave behind!



Craft

With the love of crafts that runs through this family, I could not resist sharing this fun idea!  In fact, this activity is the one that excited my angel's the most.  It is an easy-to-make Pot O Gold Scarf from www.childmadetutorials.blogspot.com.   While this is certainly something that an adult could make, I also think that a 6 year old could, supervised by an adult, do this on a sewing machine at the slowest stitch setting.  I also think that this could sew easily by hand using a whip stitch to bind the strips.  I am working on one with my angel and will let you know any tips for doing that as we go along.


Rainbow Reward Chart: In the midst of a mommy-brained moment, I bought felt instead of fleece and ended up with a fun new project based on the Pot of Gold Scarf!