I can't believe St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner!
Soon it will be time for the leprechauns to visit and 'wow' us with their magic!
I have two fun 'magical' activities that my students really enjoyed last year to share with you!
The first one was 'Magic Leprechaun Dust' and it was such a hit!
Here are some pictures and the easy 'how to'!
I purchased enough Glad 4oz reusable round containers so that each child would have their own 'dust' and several boxes of instant pistachio pudding (I think I wound up getting between 6-8 containers for each box of pudding but I can't remember!). I made a top for the containers to make it more 'magical' looking!
To prepare the 'dust' I put 1 Tablespoon of pudding mix in each container
and then sealed it up!
On St. Patrick's Day morning the leprechaun left a stack of magic dust in our classroom
When it was snack time we followed the 'directions' from the leprechaun...
and the 'magic dust' turned into a delicious treat!
(we also had some green jello with whipped cream to snack on!)
Here are some 'how to' pictures from my trial run at home!
Add 1/4c. cold milk to the 1T. of mix in the cup. Seal it up good and shake!
After about 2-3 min of shaking....
it solidifies and turns into pudding!
It is ready to eat right away!
This year I have a nut allergy in my class, so I am going to try putting vanilla pudding mix with a dot of green food coloring into her container. I also have a child with a milk intolerance so I am going to have him shake with almond milk. I will let you know how these modifications work!
If you would like to treat your kids to some 'Magic Leprechaun Dust' I put the container 'labels' and note from the leprechaun into this free download:
It includes 'how to' pictures and directions
and the lids and note in both color and black and white
The other 'wow' we did last year was creating a leprechaun's hat!
I came across this idea on Pinterest and had flashbacks to doing it as a kid!
The day before St. Patrick's Day the leprechaun left us this note with some cups and markers:
We got right to work decorating our cups that the leprechaun claimed would turn into his luck hat!
I had them put their name somewhere on or inside the hat.
Look at how great they turned out!
That night the cups magically found their way to my house and into my oven!
Of course this part was all my little secret!
To make them transform I pre-heated my oven to 250 and used a dark sheet pan (yes- this pan has seen some use and love!)
I put them on the tray and put them in for about 2 min- you will want to keep the light in the oven on and watch them because they transform FAST!
You might also want to crack a window open...the first batch was no biggie- but by the time I was on batch 3 there was a faint odor in the house that was probably not so great for my lungs!
Here is how much they shrunk:
And look at how cute they all turned out!
The next morning they each found the hat they had made sitting next to their morning work activity and a note on our board from the leprechaun!
They were AMAZED! They couldn't believe their 'name' shrunk too!
They got to take their hats home that day- and under each hat was a gold coin- which they took home too!
Just a warning- the hats are pretty fragile!
I had to do hat surgery on a few that were touched with too much zealous!
Here is a copy of the note I left- you can 'right click' on it and save it as a picture to insert into a document to print:
That wasn't the end our the leprechaun fun though!
He did the normal 'room trashing' too...
He opened the paint cabinet and found the green! He spilled it and walked through it all over our room!
He dumped our math manipulatives!
He ran through the traps we made and left some of his pots of gold!
And no leprechaun visit would be complete without a trip to the bathroom!
Hoping the leprechaun finds your classroom and brings as much fun this year!
If you are in need of some St. Patrick's Day resources for centers, math, reading and more come visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Until next post,
