Fun Shamrock Craft Projects

As St. Patrick’s Day nears, you might be wondering exactly what a shamrock is and how it differs from a clover. Often this time of year the two are used interchangeably, but technically a shamrock has three leaves while a clover could have three, but is usually shown as the lucky four-leaf clover.

There are some of both in this roundup of shamrock crafts and coloring pages, so you can talk about the differences or just download and use whatever kind you like.

If you want to go your own way and just need some templates, The Artisan Life has collections of both four-leaf clover and shamrock templates. Some of these you can just print out and color or trace to use in your projects, but some are large enough that the template only shows half the design so you need to trace it on a folded piece of paper to get the full effect.

Art with Jenny K has a great collection of shamrock art project ideas, many of which are downloadable from her Teachers Pay Teachers site. There is a freebie for a pop art shamrock if you’re looking for free resources, too.

Balancing Home has a pretty zentangle-looking shamrock coloring page that is great for adults or older kids to color. You could even try a challenge that each section has to be a different shade of green, or you can’t use the same color on two sections that touch.

How about some cute shamrock bookmarks? These printables from Carla Schauer are so sweet for kids to print and color to give to parents or use in the books at school.

If you’re looking for something a little craftier, Messy Little Monster has a great roundup of shamrock crafts for kids including slime, printing with peppers and the pretty bubble wrap shamrocks shown above.

Next Plan Idea:

Celebrating Coloring Book Day with Printable Coloring Pages

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply