The Story of the Leprechaun

• Read “The Story of the Leprechaun” by Katherine Tegen … this is one of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day books. It is a cute story explaining why leprechauns hide their gold at the end of a rainbow and why they’re so tricky.

   

• Art & Narration … these are always fun to do. See other narrations here and here.
  1. After you read “The Story of the Leprechaun” a couple of times, have your preschooler tell you the story. I love hearing the parts they pick out and remember.
  2. I just sit at the computer and type out word for word what they say.
  3. Print out their story, leaving space at the top.
  4. Let them cut out a pot from black paper. I found some glittery black paper in my stash that worked well. I loved my 4-year-olds tall pot.
  5. Give them a small squirt of gold paint and a Q-tip and let them fill their pot with lots of gold coin dots. Of course, my 4-year-old ended up just painting with the Q-tip. My 2-year-old did the dots. Whatever works!

 

• Leprechaun Handprint … I also like this idea to illustrate your story above. We might do this next time! These cute pictures are from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.
  1. Paint your palm orange and a little up your arm green.
  2. Press firmly onto a paper to form your leprechaun beard and hat.
  3. Cut out a circle and decorate for the face.
  4. Cut out a green rectangle, yellow rectangle and smaller green rectangle and glue together to make the hat buckle.
  5. OPTIONAL: Add a colorful rainbow and a pot of gold. I love how they used heart-shaped sponges to make shamrocks. So creative!

 

• St. Patrick’s Day Playset … from Family Fun! The little mushroom house might be better for an older child, but these little leprechauns are perfect to print out and play with! Add a handful of plastic gold coins for more creative play.

 

• If I Caught a Leprechaun
  1. Print out a leprechaun clipart (I love the coloring pages from Twisty Noodle, above, because you can customize the text!)
  2. Color & cut out the leprechaun (or don’t cut out)
  3. While the kids are busy, hide their leprechauns around the room.
  4. Let the kids find their sneaky leprechaun.
  5. Glue it to the top of a sheet of paper and write down their response to end the sentence, "If I caught a leprechaun ..." Have them explain what they would do if they caught a leprechaun.