HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

If the kids didn't have a grasp on the color green before today, they sure do now. Even if you're not Irish (I'm not), the kids think it's so fun to dress up for a theme.

We started out our day talking about St. Patrick's Day and that it started in Ireland. We didn't get into who St. Patrick was - we focused on the purely magical and fun side of the holiday. First, I told them all about leprechauns and how tricky they are, and how they have pots of gold and how they're very difficult to catch. They were focused in rapt attention. Then I introduced them to one that I "caught":

We named him "Larry the Leprechaun". Everybody wanted to hold him. Here's a link to where you can print him off and make your own http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-printables/leprechaun-paper-craft-for-st-patricks-day-704364/

I made him out of printer paper, but I would suggest printing him on cardstock if you want him to survive the day.

Then I showed them how I knew that there was a leprechaun lurking around my house. We went into the bathroom, where I had previously put some green food coloring into the toilet. Well, I hadn't figured into my plans the fact that someone would need to use the bathroom before I got to this point in my lesson, so the water was blue. We had a quick recap on color mixing :) It's those real-life applications that really stick with the kids, right?

Then we went to the fridge so that I could show them the other clue I'd found. They were all excited about the green milk.

Larry wanted us to read a book about Leprechauns, so that we'd understand him better, so we read "Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato" by Tomie DePaola. Then I told them, that since I had captured Larry, he had to give us his treasure. We were going to go on a treasure hunt, but first we needed to make leprechaun hats so that we could trick any other leprechauns into thinking we weren't looking for their gold.

The kids are getting better at cutting things out, but there are still frustrations with cutting outside the lines, etc. Keep practicing!

Here are our little leprechauns ready to go hunt for their treasure. They followed a trail of green confetti and shamrocks (you might want to remind them of that word - they kept asking for me to repeat it throughout the day) out the door and through the yard.

Finally they discovered Larry the Leprechaun's treasure!
He left us some leprechaun gold (my gold glitter spray unexpectedly stopped working, so they didn't turn truly gold - the kids didn't seem to notice).
And, even better, he left us some yummy rainbow cupcakes! The rainbows even had frosting clouds on top!
The kids were very amazed when they bit into the cupcakes - the rainbow colors were so bright!

The day was so nice, we decided to eat them outside. Matthew and Maylie work on getting off the paper.
Rachel looks like she's going to take care of her cupcake in one bite! If you'd like instructions for these cupcakes, go to Familyfun.com: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/taste-a-rainbow-cupcakes-842128/. They were a bit time consuming to make, but the kids sure did think they were different and fun.

We watched a very short music video by "They Might Be Giants", that taught about rainbows and had a leprechaun in it. It's called "Roy G. Biv" (R=red, O=orange, Y=yellow, G=green, B=blue, I=indigo, V=violet).
Then we tried a trick with leprechaun gold, where you're not supposed to be able to drop the coin if you hold your hands in a certain way. Oh, it didn't work! The kids all just pulled their hands apart (you're not supposed to) and dropped the gold and said "That was really easy!" Oh well!
They ended the day by coloring pictures of rainbows and leprechauns and practicing writing their names. They kept asking if leprechauns were real. I didn't want to lie, so I said no, but that it's fun to pretend that they're out there!
So, keep an eye out for the little green guys tomorrow! They might be up to mischief!