Easy And Fun St. Patrick’s Day Activities For Toddlers

In elementary school, I always looked forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. I loved doing all of the crafts that the teachers would put together for us! So, as my son gets older, I want to make sure he has plenty of crafts to have fun with. That’s why I’ve put together this list of St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers!

In this list of St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers, you’ll find simple crafts that are perfect for 1 to 3-year-olds. But, keep in mind that even older children can find these ideas fun!

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1. Have A Fun Breakfast 

I’m sure you’ve heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so why not make it fun? 

Making a festive St. Patrick’s day breakfast doesn’t have to be extravagant. Even something as simple as green pancakes or a bowl of Lucky Charms is enough to get kids excited!

2. Read St. Patrick’s Day Stories 

I love getting my son books for each holiday because it gives us a break from our usual stories. Plus, it helps us get excited for the holiday!

Here are our top five favorite St. Patrick’s Day books for toddlers:

• How to Catch a Leprechaun
• Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Curious George
• Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase
• Happy Leprechaun
• You’re My Little Lucky Charm

3. Coffee Filter Rainbow 

This fun coffee filter rainbow is one of the most budget-friendly crafts for toddlers, and it’s so simple!

What you’ll need:

• Crayola markers
• White coffee filters
• Spray bottle
• Optional: Cotton balls

Instructions:

Starting in the middle of a flattened coffee filter, have your toddler draw a purple circle. Then, your toddler will scribble colorful rings, one after the other, around the purple circle. 

As shown in the picture above, the rings will go in this order: purple in the middle of the filter, blue, green, yellow, orange, and finally, red around the outside. 

Once the rings are all scribbled in, place the coffee filter on a dinner plate. Then, your toddler can take the spray bottle and squirt the coffee filter using a misting spray. Now you can watch all the colors blend to make a rainbow! 

Once the whole coffee filter has been sprayed with water, you can lay it on some paper towels to dry. After it has dried, you can fold or cut the filter in half, and you have your watercolor rainbows! 

If you want to add a little something extra to this craft, you can glue some cotton balls to the bottom of the rainbow to make clouds. 

4. Shaving Cream Shamrock

Making shaving cream shamrocks is another one of the St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers that my son loved. The great thing about this craft is that you can typically make it as messy as you want to!

What you’ll need:

• Free printable shamrock template, preferably printed on cardstock
• Foaming shaving cream
• Green food coloring
• Old gift or credit card
• Toothpicks or wooden skewers
• Optional: Contact paper

Instructions:

First, you’ll need to cut out the shamrock template. Then, you’ll want to prepare the shaving cream. We used a dinner plate to hold the shaving cream for this craft, but you can also use a baking pan. 

Spray the shaving cream around your preferred container, ensuring that you have enough cream to spread as wide as the shamrock.

Then, you’ll want to flatten out the shaving cream to make it somewhat even. You can use a spoon or spatula, but my toddler loved using his hands to flatten out the shaving cream.

Next, place some drops of green food coloring on top of the shaving cream. You’ll want to leave plenty of room in between the drops. Then, have your toddler carefully take the toothpick or skewer and swirl the food coloring around. 

Note: If you’re worried about your child getting poked by the toothpick or skewer, you can wrap the end that they hold with masking tape.

Once your toddler finishes swirling, take the shamrock template with the black border facing up, and lay it on the shaving cream. Gently press the shamrock down to ensure every part of the paper touches the shaving cream. 

Then, peel the shamrock off the cream, and lay it shaving cream-side up on some paper towels. Next, grab your old gift or credit card and scrape the shaving cream off the paper. This will reveal the incredible design from your toddler’s swirls!

If you want to preserve this fun craft for longer, you can cover it in some contact paper. The contact paper will also make the shamrock appear glossy, making it look extra lovely!

5. Do-A-Dot Rainbow Stamping

If you’ve never seen Do-A-Dot markers, they are pretty similar to Bingo stampers; they are essentially round marker-stamps. Do-A-Dot markers are great for many different crafts, but they are especially fun to make this fun rainbow craft.

What you’ll need:

• Do-A-Dot markers
• Any kind of blank white paper, or this free rainbow printable

Instructions:

You can make the Do-A-Dot rainbow in a couple of different ways. For younger toddlers especially, you can use the free printable above and have them stamp in the rainbow dots. 

On the other hand, if your toddler is older, you can have them create their rainbow on a piece of blank paper. Once they are done stamping the rainbow, your kiddo can add their own flair to it; maybe add some clouds or a pot of gold!

6. Pompom Rainbow Activity

The pompom rainbow activity is so simple, but it will keep your toddler entertained for quite a while! Not to mention, this activity has many benefits like developing hand-eye coordination and concentration, plus it utilizes your toddler’s fine motor skills!

What you’ll need:

• Pompoms in assorted colors
• Free printable rainbow template
• Fine motor tools
• Optional – Contact paper

Instructions:

First, you’ll want to print out the rainbow template. Suppose you’d like this activity to last a little longer. In that case, you can use contact paper or a laminator to help protect the template and make it more sturdy.

Next, you’ll want to gather the pompoms and tools. Then, show your toddler how to put one pompom inside each circle. Your child can experiment with using the tweezers or the scoopers, and they can decide which tool works the best!

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7. Leprechaun Handprint Painting

The leprechaun handprint painting is one of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers because it makes such an adorable keepsake. 

What you’ll need:

• Crayola craft paint (or finger paint)
• Paintbrushes
• Small canvas or painting paper
• Optional: Googly eyes

Instructions:

First, make sure you have skin-colored paint. If you don’t have a skin color, you can quickly create one by taking a small amount of brown paint and adding a little white paint until you get the desired shade. 

Once you have your skin color paint, you’ll paint a circle in the palm of your toddler’s hand. Next, take orange paint and paint all of your toddler’s fingers, plus around the outside of the circle on their palm. 

Then, have your toddler press their hand onto the middle of the canvas. You might want to press lightly on their hand to ensure all the paint attaches to the canvas. 

Finally, you or your toddler can paint on the leprechaun’s hat and face once the handprint has dried. For an easier option, you can cut green squares of paper out for the leprechaun’s hat, and your toddler can glue them on.

NOTE: If you don’t have brown paint, you can easily make your own. Start by taking about a dime-size of orange paint and mixing small amounts of blue into it. Keep adding small amounts of blue until you start to see brown! Then, add white as stated above to make skin colors. 

8. Draw And Decorate Shamrocks

The wonderful thing about drawing and decorating shamrocks is that there are many ways your child can do it.

What you’ll need:

• Blank white paper or free shamrock printable template
• Markers or crayons
• Any craft decorations you want

Instructions:

If using the free printable, you can lay it out with the preferred craft supplies and let your child go for it. 

On the other hand, if you are starting with blank paper, you or your child will need to draw a shamrock to decorate.

Or, if drawing a shamrock is too tricky, another fun option to try is to trace a shamrock cookie cutter. Tracing can be much easier for toddlers to accomplish, and you can fit more than one shamrock on the page!

Next, after the shamrock is drawn, your child can decorate it however they see fit. You can set out some glitter, pompoms, or even stickers for them to use after they color it in. 

9. Bake Shamrock Cookies

Baking with toddlers is terrific for many reasons. When you bake with your toddler, it will teach them basic math concepts and give them a sense of accomplishment when you’re finished. Not to mention, baking is a great bonding activity that will create lasting memories. 

When baking shamrock cookies, grab your favorite sugar cookie recipe, some simple decorating supplies, and have fun! 

Remember to keep in mind that baking with toddlers can be messy. I’ve found that baking with a toddler is much easier when I go into it with the expectations of a mess. It takes some of the stress out of it!

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10. Be Sure To Wear Green!

One of the simplest ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is by wearing green. To make this silly and fun for your toddler, let them go through their closet or dresser and pick out as much green to wear as they can. 

Children love to wear wacky outfits, so your toddler will love to pick out the craziest outfit they can find. 

11. Paint The Rainbow 

Like the shamrock craft above, there are many ways for your toddler to paint the rainbow. You can even have your toddler paint a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

What you’ll need:

• Finger paint (or craft paint and paintbrushes)
• Blank white paper or free rainbow printable template

Instructions:

If using the free printable, you can lay it out with your preferred paints and let your toddler paint away. This is an excellent option for younger toddlers. 

If you are using blank white paper, you or your child can draw the rainbow out first and then paint it in. Or even easier, you can let your toddler paint the rainbow without drawing it first. 

When you give your kiddo blank paper for them to create on, it will get their imagination going. It can be amazing to see what your child comes up with on their own!

12. Have A Green Scavenger Hunt

Next on this list of St. Partick’s Day activities for toddlers is a green scavenger hunt. For this activity, you’ll want to grab a piece of paper and head outside with your kiddo.

Then, once you’re out, have your child try to find as many green things as possible and write them down on the paper. 

Depending on where you live, there might be a lot of green items to find outside, or it might still be snowy and green things might be sparse. If there aren’t many green objects outside, you can always look through the rooms of your home instead.

If you have an older toddler, it can be fun to have them draw each object they find. You can have them draw these items as you find them, or they can sit down to draw them once you are finished looking.

13. Make A Festive Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are wonderful activities for toddlers. They provide a space for your child to explore different textures and objects while engaging their imagination.

What you’ll need:

• A tupperware bin
• Filler – Like rice, dried green lentils, dried beans, or even Lucky Charms!
• Scoops and small cups
• Small festive toys like gold coins – The dollar store can be great for small holiday toys!

Instructions:

Start by adding your filler to the bottom of the tupperware. Then, add in the fun objects and toys that you’ve found. You can sprinkle the toys around, or you can add them as piles around the bin for your toddler to mix up. Finally, add some scoopers, and you’re ready to go!

14. Make Green Slime 

Slime is such an easy craft to make with toddlers, and it’s so fun to play with! If you’ve never made slime before, this is a terrific, detailed recipe to use.

Also, to make your green slime extra festive, you can add some shamrock confetti or green and gold glitter!

15. Create Fruit Loop Rainbows 

Making Fruit Loop rainbows with your toddler is not only a simple, taste-safe activity, but it also has developmental benefits! When threading the fruit loops onto the pipe cleaner, your child will practice their fine motor skills while developing concentration and hand-eye coordination. 

What you’ll need:

• Fruit Loops
• Pipe Cleaners – Preferably white, but any color will do!

Instructions:

Start by having your toddler thread the fruit loops onto one pipe cleaner. To practice learning colors, you can put the Fruit Loops in a bowl and ask them to grab a specific color to thread. If your child doesn’t know colors quite yet, name the colors they grab from the bowl.

Next, make sure all of the Fruit Loops are in the middle of the pipe cleaner, and then coil the ends of the pipe cleaner into flat circles. These flat circles will ensure the rainbow can stand up on its own.

If you choose to use a white pipe cleaner, the ends you form into circles will look like clouds, and it will be extra cute. 

16. Attend A Parade

If there is a local parade where you live, check it out! Attending a parade is a simple activity that adds a lot of enjoyment to your day!

17. Contact Paper Shamrock

The contact paper shamrock is one of our favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers. It’s such an easy craft that makes such an excellent decoration when finished. 

What you’ll need:

• Free printable shamrock template
• Scissors or Exacto knife
• Contact paper
• Green tissue paper – It can be fun to use different shades of green or even yellow tissue paper. 

Instructions:

First, you’ll need to print out the shamrock template and cut out the black border. Because you have to cut out the white inside of the shamrock, it can be easier to use an Exacto knife, but I used scissors in the picture above. 

While you have scissors out, cut out a pile of small squares from the tissue paper. For our shamrock, we used dark green and yellowish-green tissue paper. 

Next, you’ll want to cut out two identical squares of contact paper that are big enough to fit the shamrock. Then, peel the backing off one square of contact paper and gently press the shamrock border onto it. 

Now, your toddler can put the tissue paper squares inside the shamrock border. You might need to help guide your kiddo, so too many squares don’t end up outside the border. 

When your child has finished filling the shamrock with the tissue paper squares, you can add the other piece of contact paper on top to seal everything together.

Once the shamrock is sealed, you can cut out the shamrock, leaving about ¼” space from the border. 

After the shamrock is complete, you can use some scotch tape to tape it to a window; it will look similar to stained glass when the sun is out!

18. Bubbling Pot O’ Gold

If you’re looking for a science experiment for your toddler, the bubbling pot O’ gold is the perfect activity! This simple experiment is so easy for toddlers, and it’s pretty exciting, too.

What you’ll need:

• Baking soda
• A small cup of vinegar
• Yellow food coloring
• Black pots (but any shallow container will work)
• Water dropper
• Recommended: A baking pan or plate to contain the mess

Instructions:

First, you’ll want to pour a layer of baking soda into the bottom of your black pot (or container). Make sure your pots/containers are on a baking pan to contain any mess that might happen.

Next, drop a few drops of yellow food coloring into the middle of the baking soda. 

Once the initial setup is done, your toddler can fill their water dropper with vinegar and squirt it into the pot. The vinegar will react with the baking soda and food coloring, resulting in yellow bubbles spilling out of the pot!

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I hope you enjoyed this list of St. Patrick’s Day activities for toddlers! Keep in mind that if you do these activities with younger toddlers, they will probably need more help than older toddlers. In the end, relax, have fun with your toddler, and remember that perfection is not essential!

Before you go, check out these related articles:

• Memorable Birthday Traditions To Start With Your Kids
• The Best Family-Friendly Halloween Traditions
• Meaningful And Fun Thanksgiving Traditions 
• Cherished Christmas Traditions Your Family Will Love!
• Exciting New Year’s Eve Traditions For Families

What were your favorite St. Patrick’s Day Activities For Toddlers? I would love to know in the comments below!

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