St. Patrick's Day Craft Ideas
With a rich and varied history, making shamrock crafts with kids on St. Patrick's Day can blend fun and a history lesson all into one. From a botanical standpoint, the most interesting fact about the shamrock may be that the shamrock is just one specific kind of clover of the plant species Trifolium repens, and there has been much scientific debate about its origins. However, kids can still have a great deal of fun creating traditional holiday delights like green shamrock cookies and wearable shamrock badges.
Green Shamrock Cookies
- 2 3/4 cup flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup butter
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Shamrock-shaped cookie cutter
- Rolling pin
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- Green sprinkles, frosting, and cookie topping decorations as desired.
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter, egg, and extracts, and then blend in dry ingredients a bit at a time until batter is smooth. Flour a flat surface and roll out dough into a flat circle 1/8 inch thick. Press cookie cutter into dough to make shamrock-shapes. Place each cookie on a greased cookie sheet and encourage kids to decorate as they like with sprinkles and candies. Bake for approximately 7 minutes, cool for 2 more minutes, then ice and decorate further. Eat and enjoy!
Green Shamrock Badge
- Small shamrock shape template
- Green construction paper or green felt
- Scissors
- Safety pins
Directions
Use the shape template to make shamrock shaped cut-outs from construction paper or green felt. Safety pin the shamrock badge to the child's shirt. Now all that is left to do is enjoy the St. Patty's Day festivities with some warm shamrock cookies and a glass of cold milk!
