DIY Shamrock Suncatcher and other St. Patrick’s Day Craft Ideas

Shamrock Suncatchers are a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day craft you can do with kids and decorate your home for the holiday. Easy to make and beautiful in the sun.

St. Patrick’s Day is one of those fun holidays that everybody celebrates, even if they are not Irish! Kids especially love the idea of dressing in green, going to a parade, and trying to catch leprechauns! And kids love to make St. Patrick’s Day crafts and decorations. Here are a few fun and easy St. Patrick’s Day projects to make with your kids.

Paper Shamrocks

Paper shamrocks are a must in our house on St. Patrick’s Day, and they are so easy to make! All you need is some green construction paper, a pencil, scissors, glue, and markers, glitter glue, or stickers to use for decorating your shamrock. At first glance, shamrocks seem hard to draw because their shape can be complicated for younger kids. You can also make four-leaf clovers out of felt.

Shamrocks can be drawn quite easily-by, making hearts! The leaves of a shamrock are heart-shaped, so all you need to do is draw one heart, cut it out, and then trace two (or three) more hearts using your first heart as a guide. Then cut a long, thin strip for the stem, and glue the hearts around the stem-point side in. Voila-you have a shamrock! Let your kids decorate with glitter glue, stickers, markers, or whatever they like, and soon you will have beautiful shamrock decorations.

St. Patrick’s Day cards

Similarly, you can use the heart design to make St. Patrick’s Day cards for family and friends. Have your kids fold a piece of construction paper in half to make the card base. Cut or punch out heart shapes in green and/or orange paper and glue onto the front of the card. Draw in the stem, or use a pipe cleaner for texture. Then let them decorate the cards with glitter, stickers, and markers.

To make the card look more polished, use green construction paper as the base, then cut a piece of white, orange, or yellow paper that is approximately 2/3 the size of the front of the card, and glue the shamrock to this piece of paper. Then attach the whole piece to the front of the card. This will make the design pop more, but still gives kids plenty of decorating space!

Leprechaun Trap

Another great St. Patrick’s Day craft project is a leprechaun trap. To make the trap, you will need a shoebox, tissue box, or frozen waffle boxes-any cardboard object that can be cut, and that can serve as the trap. Have your child decorate the inside of the box with stickers, markers, etc., making sure that some of the decorations look like gold. Cover the outside of the box with green construction or contact paper, and decorate with more St. Patrick’s-themed stickers and such, again making sure some of the decorations are golden.

Help your child cut a trap door along one of the sides or through the top. Make sure to cut only three sides so that the door is ìhinged. Punch a hole through the top of the trap door and tie a longish piece of yarn through the hole. On the other end, tie or tape a toy gold coin, beads, or another gold-colored object to serve as the lure. Put the lure inside the trap and close part-way, and now you have your leprechaun trap! For added fun, raid the trap on St. Patrick’s Day and leave behind a note from the leprechaun, so your child thinks that a leprechaun actually visited the trap. It will make your child’s St. Patrick’s Day, one to remember!

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Shamrock Suncatcher

Equipment

• Metal cookie or clay cutters
• Cookie Sheet
• Aluminum foil
• Drill fitted with ⅛ inch drill bit

Materials

• Plastic pony beads
• green ribbon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking pan with aluminum foil to protect the pan and make it easier for the ornaments to release from the pan.
  
• Place cookie cutters on aluminum foil in baking pan. Fill each cookie cutter with a single layer of beads. Use a toothpick or bamboo skewer to arrange the beads.
  
• Carefully put the baking sheet in the oven and melt the beads. The time can vary based on the type of bead. Begin checking at 5 minutes. (My ornaments took 15 minutes to melt.) The ornaments are ready when the beads are melted and the hole in each bead has disappeared.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool completely prior to removing from the cookie cutters. To remove the ornaments, gently pull the sides of the cookie-cutter away from the ornament.
• Use the drill to create a small hole in each ornament for hanging.
  
• Tie a piece of green ribbon to your suncatcher and place in a window or tree.
  

Notes

Please be aware that the beads do release plastic smells/fumes as they melt. To avoid the smell, you can use a toaster oven outside.