Tell the truth...when you think of St. Patrick's Day, there are likely a few key things that come to mind: wearing the color green so you don't get pinched, leprechauns, pots of gold, rainbows, and clovers/shamrocks. Right?
Don't feel bad. For many, many years, these were the same images that would come to my mind when I thought of March 17th. You are not alone. Since my son has Irish heritage (and I do as well according to Ancestry.com), I wanted to spend some time this year exploring the history of St. Patrick's Day and the reason why it's celebrated in Ireland and around the world. Let's go right to the source. Who was St. Patrick?
According to History.com, St. Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. In short, he is revered for bringing Christianity to Ireland (he did many other things, but this appears to be the key concept according to a variety of sources). St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 since it is believed that he died on that date. History.com suggests one of the most well-known legends of St. Patrick is that he used the symbol of the shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity. Pretty cool, right? While we do see leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold on this day, there is little to no correlation between the life of St. Patrick and these symbols. Who knew?!?
Eddie loves arts and crafts, so I knew I wanted to help him create something special for his second St. Patty's Day. What we used:
one soft Scotch Brite ocelo sponge (like these on Amazon)
green (we like the Crayola paints from DollarTree!)
paper
Sharpie marker
Crayola pip-squeak markers
cotton balls
Crayola washable glue
First, I cut section of the sponge into a small heart-shaped stamp. We dipped the sponge into the paint on our pallet, and arranged each stamp into the shape of a shamrock (miraculously, we got it right on the first try. Maybe St. Patrick was helping us out!).
From there, we used our markers to draw stems on our shamrocks.
Once our shamrocks had taken their true form, we added a rainbow using our markers. Since we are also learning colors, we use his love of rainbows as a way to go over which is which (he really loves rainbows thanks to the Rainy Day Rainbow episode of Blue's Clues & You! - cue "Raindrops, sunlight, and refraction..." song).
After our rainbow was in place, we added cotton ball "clouds" to the ends. And, of course, I added his name to the bottom of the picture. There are loads of free downloadable printouts and downloads that you can find online if you don't prefer working from a blank canvas. With our rainbow and the artist's signature in place, we were all done. A certain little someone was proud of his work.
Our craft will likely be different next year, but I am very much looking forward to continuing to honor St. Patrick's legacy and celebrating this holiday with Eddie. What are some of your favorite St. Patrick's Day traditions and crafts? Let us know in the comments below!