Painting Shamrocks

Grunny and Grumpy are here for the week much to everyone's delight so I tried a little St Patrick's Day painting activity at the parent and toddler group yesterday while Girl and Grumpy got to know each other. It felt like a strange super-ability to suddenly have two arms to myself for a whole hour.

I started by cutting out a few shamrock shapes out of card. These were a bit dodgy; more a cross between a Club on a deck of cards and a conjoined trio of deformed love hearts than a shamrock but as Grumpy kindly pointed out, nothing in nature is perfect.

So then I put out two pots of green paint and a small selection of brushes and painting sponges. I stuck one or two Shamrocks on a sheet of paper using a small piece of rolled up Sellotape. Blue tack might have worked better, but the Sellotape was fine.

The children began to wander over to see what was going on and each was given a sheet of paper. Then they were given free rein to slap on the green paint. Once finished we took off the taped on shamrocks to leave a silhouette shape.

Grumpy kindly pointed out while shamrocks are green, my shamrock shapes would be, well, not green. So if you are after accurate horticultural replication you may wish to use white paint on green paper, or red paint on white paper and then let children colour in the white shapes with green crayon... I could go on. In the end using green paint on green or white paper was the most successful but the other colours worked quite nicely too.

The older children painted the actual shamrocks rather than the space around them, and some were a little put out when I said I was going to remove them, though they enjoyed shouting 'ready steady GO!'. In fact the younger children probably enjoyed the actual activity better, while the older ones appreciated the end result.

The parents' input was interesting too. Some parents sat right back and let their kids get on with it, some sat and helped their children do it 'right' and one daddy stared over his tiny toddler daughter's shoulder with such intense pride as - was that a tear I saw him blink back? - she slapped green paint all over her picture, the table and herself with a mini sponge paint-roller that I was slightly relieved when he finally enlightened me with a beaming smile: "I'm a painter too."

Paddy's Day Sensory Box

A sensory bin or box is a container of fun stuff for small children to play with, usually based on a theme. Once assembled, the adult who made it calls it a sensory box to make it sound educational.

I liked the idea and decided to put one together for the babies. I used a large, fairly shallow clear plastic storage box and filled it with all things green (with a bit of orange and white) to try and make it a St. Patrick's Day theme.

My first attempt wasn't great - I just collected all the green trains, hats and other toys going around and it ended up looking like a messy green toy box.

I ended up taking out most of the toys and bulking it out with a grass skirt, felt pompoms, a green tinsel wig and a Paddy's day garland from the Euro2 shop. Then I added a Paddy's day hat, a slinky and an Irish flag.

This was a much better combination as the touchy feely bulk half-hid the other items well enough to make them stand out. As it turns out, the less you put in the box, the easier it is for children to pick and choose what they want to touch and play with.

The box (mark 2) was a hit with Girl immediately and it keeps her entertained day after day whenever I need a minute. She loves it when I sit by the box and play with her too. Though I do spoil the fun a little by insisting on the extraction of pompoms from her mouth. The depth of the box is ideal for her to help herself safely, and she is fascinated by the jingle bells on the hat.

Boy initially turned up his nose at it until he happened to step in it with bare feet one day. He thought this was hilarious and pulled out the grass skirt and trampled back and forth over it laughing out loud. He still likes the box, but tends to tip everything out then sit inside with the tinsel wig on his head hanging onto Girl and singing Row Row your Boat. Each to his own.

I plan to change the contents every so often and have already started collecting bits and bobs for a Spring themed sensory box.

St Patrick's Day is on 17th March each year which gives us one more week of wig wearing, hat jangling, foot stamping, pompom licking, flag waving fun.