St. Patrick's Day Fun

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Archive : 2002 : February : 27

St. Patrick's Day Fun
By Virginia

Tara, I teach first grade and last year we did two very special things for St. Patrick's Day.
First, I gave each child a strip of paper printed with the face of a leprechaun which the children colored and cut out. I taped
the faces to the outside of 5 ounce plastic Solo cups (I used beige)and then I filled each cup with soil and gave each child a handful of "magic seeds" which in reality was quick growing rye grass seed! Well, they sprinkled their seeds onto the soil in their leprechaun cup and worked them lightly into the soil. We watered them daily and placed them on a sunny shelf. Within five days....our

leprechauns grew hair --- green hair! Just before taking the leprechaun cups home on St. Patrick's Day, the children gave their leprechauns a haircut....the children loved it. I sent the cups home in plastic sandwich bags to avoid any mess.

Secondly, I had each child color the outside of an 8 or 9 ounce styrofoam coffee cup with bright colors (heavy on the green!). I told the children these were going to become our leprechaun traps. Well, that evening I took all the cups home and placed them on a cookie sheet (open side down) in a 300 oven for about 4 minutes --- be sure to check the cups are not overheating and melting. Well, the cups shrink down and the open side curls up and makes a small brim -- woila......tiny little leprechaun hats!!!! I placed these on the children's desk in the morning and placed a few mini oreos in each one .....the children were sooooo excited.

I hope this helps...have a great St. Patrick's Day.