Fun Activities and Games for the Kids on St. Patrick’s Day

When people think of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, they often think of loud parties, parades, and especially consuming large amounts of alcohol! But kids like to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as well and a lot of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities are definitely unsuitable for children. Below are some ideas to get the kids involved in this very fun holiday.

“Secret Leprechaun” is a game that is a lot like “Secret Santa” at Christmastime. Place the names of family members on pieces of paper and put them into a hat. On March 1 gather all of the family members and have them pick a person’s name but not show anybody who they picked. It is their job to do good deeds (or play the occasional practical but innocent joke) on that person. On March 17, the family members will gather again and each person will try to guess who their Secret Leprechaun is. Once the Leprechaun’s are revealed, each person will vow to do something nice for the person they picked. A promise such as doing one of their chores, or making them breakfast one day is better than giving presents. This is one holiday that does not need to be commercialized!

Another game that kids can play, “drive out the snakes”, pays homage to St. Patrick, who was well known for driving the snakes out of Ireland. For this game long, thin balloons such as the kind used to make balloon animals are needed. Simply blow them up and tie the end. They can then be tied to kids ankles. Kids will have lots of fun trying to “drive out the snakes” as they chase each other and try to stomp on other kids balloons. The last one with a balloon left around their ankle is the winner. Hand out small prizes such as pieces of candy or Irish buttons.

Just like “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” you can play “Pin the Pot o’ Gold on the Rainbow.” Simply use construction paper to cut out the different colours of the rainbow and piece them together or draw and colour a rainbow on a piece of paper. This can even be a great craft project for the kids to do before they start the game. Then simply paste small yellow circles of construction paper onto larger black circles. You can have the kids do this as well! Once the pieces are complete, pin the rainbow on the wall and start blindfolding kids one by one. Give them a “pot of gold” with a piece of tape on the back and have them try to pin it at the end of the rainbow.

And of course, you can always dye food green. Make green pancakes for breakfast by adding food colouring to the batter while it is being mixed. Serve green hard-boiled eggs and ham for lunch and for dinner maybe try green spaghetti or another one of your kid’s favourite foods. For dessert, serve chocolate mint ice cream!

There’s no reason to leave kids out of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! They too love dressing up in certain colours and making a day more fun with games and specialties!