Here is a Saint Patrick's Day Unit Study that you can do with your children on Saint Patrick's Day.
Pour yourself some Frosted Lucky Charms cereal to get into a festive mood. The sugar high will help you pay attention to the following videos and will help you do all the fun hands-on activities you have planned for the day. Watch this video of Saint Patrick's life, so that your children can understand who he was.
You can also grab some fun picture books about Saint Patrick and Ireland in general. Then you can have your kids do a skit to re-enact the story of Saint Patrick. (Don't forget the pirates!) Here is the story of Saint Patrick:
After re-enacting the story of Saint Patrick, you can go look for some four-leaf clovers in a nearby field. Presumably Saint Patrick used the clover leaf to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is one and yet three in the same way that the clover leaf is one leaf with three parts. Make some crafts in the shape of clover leaves. You can make a clover pillow with green felt cut into the shape of a clover. Then sew the two identical pieces of felt together, stuffing the pillow with shredded leftovers of felt. You can have younger kids decorate a clover leaf of green card stock, using green markers, crayons, and green glitter. Teenagers can make a green scene on green card stock paper, using only textured materials around the house that are a green color. You can even build a green little Leprechaun Town with green card stock paper, green markers, glue, tape, scissors, and green glitter. This reminds me of the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz.
You can also create the illusion of a green city by getting some green cellophane and making some cardboard glasses. Or just hold the green cellophane up and look through it as you drive around your city. There is a nice green glow to everything, kind of like it's radioactive. Don't run away screaming, though. Just lower the cellophane, and the world returns to normal. Now it's time for some fun Irish dancing. Watch this video and practice the steps. Go on. Dance in front of the grandparents, who will clap enthusiastically as they watch you dance your jig. If you love watching Irish dance, go watch a performance of Riverdance with your family. Then grab an Irish tin flute, experiment on it, and play some Irish music.
You will want to cook some tasteless Irish food. Yes. I've been to Ireland, and I'm not going to lie about the food. You can make some Irish stew or a corned beef and cabbage dinner. This particular recipe for Irish stew requires lamb shoulder chops (nicely browned in a frying pan), carrots, onions, celery, butter, flour, 3 cups of chicken stock, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Simmer the stew in a large stock pot for an hour and a half. Add baby potatoes and cook for another 40 minutes. Then remove the meat and turn the liquid up to high heat for 12 minutes to reduce the sauce so that it will thicken. Throw the pieces of lamb back into the pot and serve to your pleading children, who will do extra chores if you will only give them some normal American maccaroni and cheese instead of your Irish stew. Finish your dinner by serving a rainbow cake. Your kids will squeal with joy at how beautiful it looks.
Travel to Ireland virtually by flying over the beautiful green country. Besides the breathtaking scenery, what I loved most about my trip to Ireland was looking at the massive stone castles. (I even kissed the Blarney stone. Legend has it that anyone who kisses the Blarney stone will have eloquence. Back then I had no idea I was going to be a public speaker, giving workshops at homeschool conferences!)
Enjoy this virtual trip over Ireland. You might want to have your kids color a map of Ireland and cut out green, white, and orange construction paper rectangles, taping them together on a stick to wave around their very own Irish flag.
Here are some notebooking pages about St. Patrick:
You can conclude your fun-filled Saint Patrick's Day by decorating a green leprechaun hat. They only cost a dollar around Saint Patrick's Day. They look like Dr. Seuss hats. You can decorate them in a crazy manner like this:
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