Irish Spring: A Shamrock Sun Catcher Craft for Kids

Hope the green is sprouting up in your neighborhood!  Have you found any four-leaf clovers?

We are starting to see the signs of spring in our yard and so our crafts are turning green, too!  And this craft is green in more ways than one–it re-purposes cardboard tubes from toilet paper or paper towel or gift wrap rolls.

Materials:

• cardboard tube
• green paint
• green glitter
• green tissue paper
• green chenille stem
• X-ACTO knife
• single hole punch

Directions:

1. Cut three segments from your cardboard tube. All about a half an inch to an inch thick. Use a single hole punch to make a hole in one of the tubes.

2. Shape all three tubes into hearts by pinching the tube on one end to form the bottom of the heart and pushing in the top of the heart to form the top part. (The hole punched in one of the tubes should be at the top of the heart.)

3. Paint the hearts green.

4. Add glitter–everything is better with glitter! (Although my husband might not agree it adds to his prosecutorial gravitas in court.)

5. Add glue around the edges of one side of each heart.

6. Place glue side down on tissue paper and let dry.

7. Trim around the edges of the hearts with an X-ACTO knife.

8. Glue the three hearts together and add a chenille stem as the shamrock’s stem.

9. String fishing wire, ribbon or cord through the hole you punched at the top of one of the hearts and hang in front of a sunlit window.

Read along with:

The Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever: A short, rhyming text filled with ideas for the wearing o’ (and eating o’, and decorating with) the green.

Educational Connections:

• Art: How many different shades of green can you find in nature or around your house? Name each shade using traditional names or make up your own.
• Science: Why are plants green in the spring and summer?
• Culture: What does the color green usually represent?
• Botany: Interesting read for older kids and botanists: The Truth Behind the Shamrock from BBC

Shared at: stART