Although St. Patrick’s Day may only bring up memories of parties and drinking, you can easily make the holiday about it’s true meaning and involve your children. There are many fun, interactive games and activities you can easily create to give your kids a chance to celebrate the holiday.
Give Your Kids a Short Lesson on St. Patrick
To really give your children the full experience of the holiday, you can give them background information on St. Patrick and why this holiday is celebrated every 17th of March. Talking about this patron saint of Ireland and why it is celebrated will help kids understand why these holidays exist and why they matter. Talking about some fun folklore, such as leprechauns, pots of gold, and shamrocks can help your children understand some of the other aspects of St. Patrick’s Day and make the following activities more enjoyable!
Fun & Games
One super easy but fun activity is doing a gold coin hunt, either in your house or your backyard if the weather is nice out. Simply buy some gold coins from the grocery store and hide them throughout the house or backyard for your children to find. You can either have a pot of gold hidden somewhere as well for your kids to find, or have the children count how many coins they found, and whoever has the most can “win” the pot of gold. You can even have the gold coin hunt as a “prelude” to the actual hunting of the pot of gold to make more activities. Either on the holiday itself or right before, you can hide the pot of gold in a location and have a scavenger hunt for it, complete with clues or even a treasure map if you’d prefer. The clues you make and leave should lead the children to the next location of a clue, and so on. You’ll have to cater the clues to the ages of the children in your house, so if you do have a wide range of ages, it might be easier to do a more traditional hunt or have a map for them instead. You can also play musical chairs, but with an Irish flair. You can play Celtic music while the children circle the chairs, and whoever wins can even get a leprechaun hat! You can also play the game of hot potato and talk about how important potatoes were and still are in the Irish community before playing.
Food From Ireland
Another great way to feel connected to a region or country is through their food. Find some meals or baked goods that your family would enjoy and cook them together. Whether it’s corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, black pudding and more, your family can enjoy a different type of meal together and learn a little more about another culture.
Katie Kyzivat