St. Patrick’s Day activities: Sunday, March 17, is Saint Patrick’s Day, and there are plenty of fun things to do to celebrate! Wear green (don’t get pinched), eat green, and indulge in Irish foods.
When our boys were toddlers, my husband was offered a job opportunity in Ireland, and being ones to carpool, we uprooted our young family and promptly picked up and moved to the Emerald Isle. That year we spent in Ireland captured my heart and forever changed the trajectory of our lives. It is no wonder, then, that St. Patrickās Day continues to be one of my favorite holidays. St. Patrickās Day is a time to celebrate the beauty, wonder, magic, luckāand mischief!–of the land of rainbows and leprechauns.
Here are some St. Patrick’s Day activities you can do with your family to bring the magic of the holiday into your own home!
Leprechaun Traps
Legend has it (in our home, at least) that leprechauns visit on St. Patrickās Day in search of lost gold. If you catch a leprechaun, you get to keep his goldāa treasure monumental enough to buy all of the Robux in the world. With so much at stake, my kids build leprechaun traps each year and set them out on the night before St. Patrickās Day to test their luck at catching the sneaky wee lads. We are yet to be successful at catching anything more than tiny green leprechaun footprints, gold glitter, and tufts of orange āleprechaun hair,ā but we will persist.
To make your leprechaun trap, gather materials from your home that might attract a leprechaun. This could be anything green (representing Ireland), gold or yellow (because leprechauns love gold), or rainbow colors (because leprechauns hide their gold at the end of rainbows). Once you have your materials, decide how to trap your leprechaun. It could be a path leading to a ball of tape where the leprechaun gets stuck, a box that might fall on top of your leprechaun, or a trail of Legos where the leprechaun might stub his toe and sit down to rest until morning. The possibilities are as endless as your childās creativity!
Rainbow Celery
This simple experiment using items you probably already have at home is a fun way to create your own (edible) rainbow.
What you need:
Several stalks of leafy celery (Leafless celery stalks would also work, but the leaves make this experiment pop!)
Clear glass containers (large mason jars or drinking glasses work well)
Water
Food Coloring
What you do:
1) Fill each glass container ā
full with water and add several drops of food coloring. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, you can arrange your containers of colored water in rainbow order.
2) Cut or tear the bottom of each celery stalk (this will help the celery absorb more colored water). Place one celery stalk in each water container, leaves pointing up. If youāre feeling extra fancy, you can even slice the celery stalks lengthwise into ālegsā and place each ālegā in a different container.
3) Sit back and watch the magic happen! After about an hour or two, you will start to see the colored water travel up the celery stalksāthe longer you wait, the more color you will see in the celery.
To take the learning further, ask your child about their observations. What happened to the celery after it was placed in the colored water? Are some colors brighter or more visible in the celery? What do you think would happen if you left the celery in the water overnight or for several days? You can also test how your rainbow celery tastes compared to a control (uncolored) piece of celery.
St. Patrickās Day Scavenger Hunts
My kids love scavenger hunts, and St. Patrickās Day is the perfect opportunity to join together for a hunt.
We usually start St. Patrickās Day morning by doing an indoor scavenger that ends with a special treasure left behind by our leprechaun. The treasure is usually something St. Patrickās Day themed, like Lucky Charms cereal, shamrock socks, gold coin candy, or rainbow lollipops. You can create your own simple indoor scavenger hunt or print off free clue cards available online.
If the weather cooperates (which is always a gamble in Seattle in mid-March), I also like to take my kids outside for a St.Patrickās Day nature scavenger hunt. Create your list of nature items youāre likely to find near your home or print off a free nature scavenger hunt.
You can also turn your scavenger hunt into a photo scavenger hunt, allowing your kids to take turns snapping photos of the treasures they find.
Take on a craft
If you or your child can cut out a heart shape, your family can do these fun Dancing Shamrock and Rainbow Shamrock crafts. Paste on some googly eyes, or draw your own. Make sure you have plenty of construction paper, glue, scissors and markers … and go!
Make something green to eat (and skip the dye)!
Of course you can settle for lime Jell-O or mint chocolate chip ice cream. Guacamole is another festive alternative, with the benefit of being naturally green.
Or you can try some green cake or green muffins — with no added dyes, too. Catherine McCord, founder of Weelicious and the meal delivery service One Potato, has created some delicious options that won’t have the wee ones bouncing off the walls from artificial food-coloring overload.
Here are her Weelicious recipes for spinach smash cake and spinach cake muffins, both more than green enough for celebrating the Emerald Isle in the Emerald City.
Spinach smash cake
(Courtesy of Weelicious)
Ā Spinach Smash Cake
Nut-free
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Spinach Buttercream Frosting:
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature
- 6 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Spinach Smash Cake:
1. Position the rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat the insides of 3-6 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray, line bottoms with parchment paper rounds, then spray parchment.
2. Whisk together sifted flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl to combine. Set aside. In a blender, combine milk, egg whites and spinach, blend until well combined and smooth. Set aside.
3. Beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add sugar gradually and beat until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternately with the milk-spinach mixture, while beating on low speed. Begin and end with flour, and beat briefly until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into layers shows a few moist crumbs when removed. The layers will be a light golden brown around the edges and top and will have come away from the sides of the pans.
6. Cool the pans on a wire rack for 8-10 minutes. Unmold, peel off the parchment, and place the layers directly on the racks to cool completely.
Spinach Buttercream Frosting
1. In a blender combine milk and spinach. Blend until well combined.
2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer or a stand- mixer on medium-high, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add one cup of sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Add remaining sugar, milk-spinach mixture, vanilla and beat on high until silky smooth.
To assemble the cake:
1. Cut off the very top of the cake to make all three layers even.
2. Place on 6 inch cake on a platter and spread 1/3 cup of the frosting. Top with another 6 inch cake and spread 1/3 cup frosting. Top with remaining 6 inch cake and use remaining frosting to cover the cake.
Note: The Spinach Smash Cake can sit at room temperature for 24 hours, refrigerate for 3 days or cakes can be individually wrapped and frozen up to 3 months.
Spinach cake muffins
(Courtesy of Weelicious)
Spinach Cake Muffins (Makes 24 Mini Muffins)
For a green breakfast treat, try these tasty green muffins.
Cook Time: 12 mins
Nut-free
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh spinach, packed
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and puree.
3. Place the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and combine.
4. Pour the spinach puree in a large mixing bowl.
5. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined.
6. Scoop batter into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 of the way.
7. Bake for 12 minutes.
Both recipes reprinted with permission from Weelicious.
17 dye-free St. Patrick’s Day recipes
Get your kids moving at home!
Watching Irish step dancing was one of my Irish-born grandmother’s favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities. Children can watch (and try to copy) Irish dance in this video, “St. Patrickās Day Around the Puget Sound ā Haley Prendergast School of Irish Dance,” one of many activities linked at the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle’s Irish Week website.
Read about Irish traditions
Head to your local library and check out books on Ireland and Irish traditions. Find a cookbook or a recipe online that will help you make Irish soda bread, corned beef and cabbage or a stew with Guinness. We recommend these books:
How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace, Patrick Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola, Fiona’s Luck by Teresa Bateman.Ā
Make a Shamrock Shake at home!
A seasonal drink from McDonalds, you can cut the sugar and make something a little more healthy at home. Blend together bananas, green grapes, and some spinach and you’ve got a sweet and healthy treat to sip on while you enjoy your St. Patty’s Day arts and crafts, games, and other fun adventures.
Jillian O’Connor contributed to this article
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