We spend a lot of hours at the park, in the driveway with bikes and chalk scattered about and taking walks. We enjoy the fresh air and warmer weather, as well as seeing our neighbors again. We look forward to spring not only for it’s beautiful weather, but also for the fun holidays. The first of which is St. Patrick’s Day. Here is a fun little activity to surprise kids, friends or neighbors for St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s Day Treasure Hunt
Supplies:
- River Rocks
- Gold Paint
- Gold Glitter
- Candy
- Paper/Markers
Directions:
Start by painting your rocks gold. We used acrylic paint, but spray paint would be an easy option as well. We did two coats of paint. While the paint was still wet we sprinkled with the gold glitter. If you want to make sure the glitter doesn’t fall off you could spray with a sealer, since we were going to take our rocks outside we didn’t spray them. While the rocks were drying we packaged up some Skittles and Rolos for our treasure and wrote notes. Then be as sneaky as you can be hiding the rocks to lead to the treasure. My boys really enjoyed being “sneaky” and leaving the treats.
St. Patrick’s Day Book Recommendations
The Story of St. Patrick’s Day by Patricia A. Pingry (Great if you are looking for an introduction to the history of the holiday for the preschool age)
The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day by Natasha Wing
The Luckiest Leprechaun by Justine Korman
Other Fun Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a Family
- Cook a traditional Irish meal such as corned beef, lamb or bangers and mash.
- Have a green food buffet with grapes, kiwi, celery, guacamole just to name a few.
- Read a story about Leprechauns and then design and build a leprechaun trap.
- Have a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast of Green Pancakes and Lucky Charms.
This is one part of a series of ideas for thrifty family fun on our Thrive & Dime blog.
About the writer: Formerly a school counselor, Megan now spends her days playing trucks, reading dinosaur books, dispensing snacks and adventuring with her three little men; ages 5, 2 and 6 months.
