This week I decided to teach Makenzie all about St. Patrick's day, which entailed a whole new vocabulary: leprechauns, shamrocks/clovers, and luck (I don't think she really understood the concept of luck before- when I asked her what lucky meant, she said, "I win games!" because when she wins we always say, "wow you're sooo lucky"... so I guess she wasn't too far off).
I knew I wouldn't be able to explain the whole leprechaun thing myself so we went to the library the other day and checked out a bunch of books about St. Patrick's day and leprechauns. She's crazy about them!! Her favorite is one about a dog who rolls around in some leprechaun's clovers and gets lucky, it's called "Lucky Tucker." She wants me to read them to her all day, and when I'm tired of it, she will sit there by herself and study each one.
When Justin found out Makenzie was learning about leprechauns, he took her outside on a leprechaun hunt (it was so cute). Jarom's coat is green so we pretended he was a leprechaun. I can tell Makenzie's not sure if this leprechaun thing is for real or pretend, but either way, she likes it.So when I saw some ideas in Family Fun magazine to make leprechaun traps, I figured that might be a fun tradition to start. I made this hat out of a big Country Time lemonade can (you could also use an oatmeal container) and just wrapped felt around it with double sided tape. You just cut a hole in the lid and then cut an x-shape in the middle of the felt that covers the lid so the leprechaun can slip through when he tries to get your gold bait on top. Makenzie loved helping, and she even broke those twigs down to size for the ladder by herself (I was surprised she could do that). For the gold on top, I happened to have some gold spray paint so I just sprayed some cotton balls, but you could use anything, even crumpled yellow paper.
Obviously we won't be catching any leprechauns, but I'm planning on leaving some fool's gold in there that the leprechaun might have dropped. Anyone know where to buy fool's gold??
I've never really thought much about St. Patrick's day (I'm usually lucky if I remember to wear green), but now that I have kids that can get into it, it's really fun!
20 comments:
This is such a CUTE idea! I love that Mackenzie is all over it! You can usually buy fools gold at visitor's centers for geological or historical sites. Like old time mills, towns, or caves. Also, you might consider just using chocolate coins. They're covered in gold foil and you could say the leprechaun dropped some of his gold...
or just spray paint some little pebbles with the rest of the gold spray paint that you have! What a fun idea!
One of the things I love the most about your blog is that you always have such cute ideas to do with kids! I never even thought about teaching Teya about leprechauns but that is soo cute! I love that you went to the library to check out books on it too. We so need to be better about that. Very very cute!
Wow, Tara! You get extra points for being not only a great mom, but a way creative one! I might have to steal that idea... I had neer even thought about ST. Patty's day!
What a fun tradition. I remember when I was little my mom always did fun stuff for us for St. Patrick's day- I don't think I ever fully believed in Leprechauns either but it was fun to hunt for them anyway. I can't wait to have kids old enough to appriciate fun stuff like this. You're such a cute mom Tara.
That's so cute! You're an awesome mom! It's funny because yesterday, I heard my kids talking in the back of the van before going to church, and they were saying that they couldn't wait to make another "Elf Trap" for St. Patrick's Day. I had forgotten that we did that last year. I used a little green paint to leave "foot prints" as evidence that they had visited during the night, and even though they are older, they seemed to believe. I just got the chocolate coins and used that as fools gold. I've also seem fools gold at museum gift shops, you know, where you can buy a bag of rocks and make your own collection... anyways, I love how you made your trap!
This is so cute! Tara I love the leprechaun hunt. I also have little ones who love the leprechauns and all that they bring. I wasn't so excited about St. Patrick's Day myself, until I found some ideas on how to stage a leprechaun visit on Steve Spangler's website (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/experiment/leprechauns-st-patricks). It goes beyond just setting traps and leaving gold coins.
The leprechauns turn our tap water green (the girls go around to each faucet and watch the green water come out), leave "leprechaun stew" - pistachio pudding that turns green when you mix it, and leave slimy green footprints all over the counter tops. It has turned a normally uneventful holiday into a treasure hunt not unlike Christmas or Easter morning.
What a great idea! I love the trap. You could always hit up the dollar store for some gold chocolate coins for the leprechaun to drop in the trap. We should put together a little St. Patrick's Day party for the kids. They can kiss the blarney stone and dance a jig! :)
I love that! My younger sister has the Leprechauns visit her kids every year to bring them treats. I tried this with my kids and only scared them to death thinking there were leprechauns in the house. Mom of the year moments!
That's such a fun idea. I love the leprechaun trap. I'm glad I found your blog. Your kids are getting so big. We should get together sometime so our kids can play.
i was searching the internet for st patrick's day ideas. I also liked Laurel's ideas. Where did you find the idea/instructions for the leprechaun trap? snuggles2901@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Kristie
Awww, she is so cuuuute, I love her grin! You're such a crafty mom, I need to start trying to be like you more. :)
What a darling kids activity. I enjoyed reading about this St. Patricks Day idea soooooo much that I wrote about it in our St, Patrick's Day blog posting http://blog.jooners.com/jooning/. Kids find leprechauns magical. If you're looking for gold leaf strips they can be found at Sur la Table. Pricier than fools gold but beautiful.
This is so, so cute! I love it!
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Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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Hello. I wanted to invite you to share Mackenzie's Leprechaun trap on my blog. I'm going to have a Mr. Linky party on March 10th and you can post your link then. Here is the info! I hope that you will join in on the fun.
http://raisingcreativeandcuriouskids.blogspot.com/2010/02/lets-catch-leprechaun.html
Take Care!
Jen from Creative and Curious Kids!
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