St. Patrick Projects for kids to make

When I was teaching special education my students love to make items out of buttons; so see below some suggestions. In addition, you can get different wood shapes for each holiday and make pins.

Shamrock Jewelry for Kids

Materials: Multi-pack of foam shamrocks , Plastic straws (use 2 straws for 1 necklace), Gems and glue dots (optional), Yarn, Hole puncher, Scissors, Scotch tape,  and Shamrock Template

Directions:

Estimate how much yarn you need by loosely wrapping it around the child's wrist or neckline. Cut the yarn. To avoid the ends from unraveling, wrap each end with a small piece of clear scotch tape.

Cut the straws in 2" pieces. Use 2 straws for 1 necklace.

Using the hole punch, punch two holes in each shamrock. (If you only use one hole, the shamrock will flop around.) Then, decide on a pattern, and thread the yarn through the straw pieces and shamrocks. Tie the ends when finished.

Add a little bling using glue dots to affix the gems. Below you'll see the necklace with gems and without. Boys may want their necklaces without.

St. Patrick’s Day Button Craft

Materials: Buttons, Craft Glue, Paper, Shamrock or Rainbow Template

Directions:

The first thing you need to do is print out the pattern you want to use. Or purchase a wooden shape. I prefer gluing the buttons on wooden shape. If you plan on making a simple button picture, you are now ready to begin. Simply use glue to fill in the picture using buttons.  Don’t worry about staying in the lines, just have fun! Make sure you use a generous amount of glue so the buttons will stay put. Let the glue dry completely before you move around your picture too much.

Option: Button Rainbow Suncatcher

If you want to make a sun catcher, start out by laying your pattern on your table. Tear off a piece of wax paper that is about the same size as your pattern. Lay the wax paper on top of the pattern and tape the corners down so it doesn’t move around.

Now you can fill in the pattern but, instead of gluing the buttons to the pictures, glue them to the wax paper.  You want to be generous with the glue. Once you have all the buttons placed, let the glue dry. I used a thick layer of glue on mine so it actually took a few days to dry.

Once your glue is dry, carefully peel your buttons off the wax paper.  Don’t be surprised it the glue is still wet behind the buttons. If this is the case, you can lay the buttons upside down and let it sit for awhile longer.

You will want to make a loop using some monofilament and glue it to the back of your button sun catcher. Once that glue is dry you can hang up your sun catcher.

Share your ideas on this or anything here on the blog either here or e-mail me at stipple@verizon.net.  I look forward to hearing from you!