Amanda Rock
·5 min read
For a bit of magical St. Patrick's Day fun for your preschooler or school-aged kid, have a leprechaun visit and leave little traces of their magic around the house.
An extra fun way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your preschooler or young grade-schooler is to have a leprechaun visit. It's a fun little prank you can play in the house and a bit like having the tooth fairy stop by—only leprechauns tend to cause a lot more mischief. Here's how to create a little bit of St. Paddy's Day magic by making your kids believe that a St. Patrick's Day leprechaun stopped by for a visit.
Related: How to Teach Kids the History of St. Patrick's Day
Build the Excitement
Leprechauns are mythical figures in Irish folklore. While they are best known for hiding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they are also supposed to be very, very naughty, playing lots of tricks on unsuspecting humans. For some St. Patrick's Day fun with your little one, try luring one of these magical creatures to your home and see what happens next!
To make the visit really special, be sure to talk about St. Patrick's Day and the myth of leprechauns ahead of time so your child understands what is going on. Read books and tell stories about leprechauns. Then, the night before St. Patrick's Day, remind your child what the next day is and that they should be on the lookout for a special visitor the next morning.
Ways To Stage a St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Visit
Before your children wake up in the morning, your mission is to leave little leprechaun traces all around the house. When you make it look like a mischievous leprechaun was around overnight, your kids will be amazed that they really did visit. They'll also be surprised at the mess leprechauns can make.
Here are our favorite St. Patrick's Day leprechaun visit ideas:
Overturn some of the furniture or move notable items such as lamps or pictures out of their normal places. Make a mess of the playroom, empty your child's clothing drawers, turn paintings or pictures upside down, toilet paper the kitchen, or swap shoes among family members.
Use green construction paper or washable green paint to make leprechaun footprints throughout the house. While leprechauns are usually small, make sure the footprints are big enough to be noticed. Try using a baby shoe as a template to trace and cut out.
Using green (or equal parts blue and yellow) food coloring, make the water in the toilet bowl green. This will especially appeal to the silly preschoolers in the group! While you are in the bathroom, unroll the toilet paper and take all the tissues out of the box.
Also using green food coloring, dye the milk in the refrigerator green. If you are really thinking ahead, dye your eggs green and freeze green ice cubes!
Scatter green and gold festive chocolate coins around the house. Alternatively, you could use "gold" $1 coins or $2 bills, which seem to make older kids laugh. You can get both from most banks.
Make a trail using footprints, green and gold confetti, or shamrock shapes that leadto a hidden treasure. At the end of the trail, place a bucket or pot filled with chocolate coins, St. Patrick's Day cookies, and green trinkets and toys.
Swap your child's normal breakfast cereal for a box of Lucky Charms.
Fill your child's bedroom with green, orange, and white (the colors of the Irish flag) balloons or streamers.
Dye white carnations green with food coloring and leave a bouquet on the table. Your local florist may also sell green flowers in the days leading up to St. Patrick's Day.
Purchase a pot of oxalis (shamrocks) from your local nursery and put it on your kitchen table (or any place your child will see it).
Leave mini "pots of gold" on the table. Spray paint small ceramic planters black. Get pipe cleaners in every color and make rainbows that you can rig into the pot. Depending on the size, you might need to cut the pipe cleaner in half, and with some creative bending and twisting, you can get a nice fit. Fill the pot with gold candies or coins.
Leave a note from the leprechaun signed with an Irish name. Have fun explaining exactly what went on while your child was asleep. Bonus points if your note is in limerick form!
If you can get your hands on a tiny doll's black top hat, leave that behind for your preschooler to find. If you can find a red wig, scatter some wisps of red hair around for extra fun.
Have the leprechaun steal a move from the Easter bunny and hide chocolate gold coins or other treats for your child to find.
Fill your bathtub with St. Patrick's Day-themed green rubber duckies.
If your child is a sound sleeper, stamp their hand with a shamrock stamp, shamrock stickers, or even a washable shamrock tattoo. If they're a really sound sleeper, paint their fingernails or toenails green with fast-drying polish!
Tip
You don't have to do all of these leprechaun visit ideas to make your preschooler or grade-schooler's St. Patrick's Day fun. Simply incorporate the ones you like and modify them to suit your needs. Most importantly, have fun and be silly: Leprechauns are supposed to cause harmless trouble, so the funnier the better!
Related: 34 St. Patrick's Day Jokes and Puns for Kids
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