St. Patrick's Day crafts for preschoolers

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your little ones by creating fun crafts together. These cute crafts are suitable for preschoolers — with a little help from Mom.

Legend says if you kiss the Blarney Stone, it's supposed to give you the gift of eloquence. For over 200 years, people from around the world have flocked to Ireland to have the chance to kiss the Blarney Stone. You don't have to make the trip, though. With this simple project, your kids can take a smooth river rock and turn it into a kissable Blarney Stone at home.

What you'll need:

• smooth, clean rock
• paint brush
• green paint
• glue
• googly eyes
• markers
• yarn
• sequins, glitter

What you'll do:

1. Wash and dry the rock, and then paint the entire rock with green paint.
2. After the paint is completely dry, use glue to attach googly eyes and draw a face with markers.
3. Add yarn to make hair and other embellishments to decorate the Blarney Stone.
4. Tell your child the story of the Blarney Stone while they are creating their craft project.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by creating a rainbow mobile with a pot of gold and shamrock.

What you'll need:

• paper plate
• markers
• hole punch
• green and yellow construction paper
• green and yellow glitter
• glue stick
• scissors
• green string or yarn

What you'll do:

1. Cut a standard white paper plate in half.
2. Draw and color a rainbow on the plate with markers .
3. Punch three holes in the plate — one at the top of the arch and one on each end.
4. Print out this shamrock template, and use it to trace a shamrock on green paper. Cut out the shamrock and punch a hole at the top.
5. Use this template for a pot of gold and trace it on the yellow paper and cut it out. Punch a hole at the top. Decorate the shamrock and pot of gold with glitter or other accents, if desired.
6. Using about three inches of string or yarn, attach the pot of gold to one side of the rainbow, and then the shamrock to the other. Thread a longer piece of yarn through the hole at the top of the mobile for hanging.

What's cool about homemade playdough is that you can let it dry out to make easy ornaments and crafts. For St. Patrick's Day, make shamrock ornaments and hang them from your doorway or other places around your home. Christmas isn't the only holiday for ornaments!

What you'll need:

• 2 cups baking soda
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1-1/4 cups cold water
• ribbon or yarn for hanging

What you'll do:

1. Mix together baking soda and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add cold water and mix until smooth. Boil for 1-2 minutes until the dough has the consistency of moist mashed potatoes, stirring constantly.
2. Spoon the dough out onto a plate and cover with a damp cloth until cool. Add green food coloring and knead the dough with your hands, rolling it out onto wax paper.
3. If you don't have a large shamrock cookie cutter, then use the aforementioned shamrock template and a plastic knife to cut out the shamrock shape. Save the remaining dough in an airtight container for play.
4. Poke a hole into the top of the shamrock with a toothpick. Let the ornament dry for one to two days until it's hard before hanging. You can also decorate the dried ornament with paints, if desired.

Image credit: Amy Vowles

More St. Patrick's Day fun

4 Simple St. Patrick's Day crafts for kids
10 St. Patrick's Day activities for kids
St. Patrick's Day printables