by Vered @ The Baby Bunch on March 10, 2010
Saint Patrick’s Day is an annual feast day that celebrates Saint Patrick, the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland.
The day is a national holiday of Ireland. In the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday.
Green ribbons and shamrocks were traditionally worn in celebration of St Patrick’s Day. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish. Today, many people, regardless of ethnic background, wear green-colored clothing on St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s Day Crafts
Crafts for this day obviously center around the color green and shamrock leaves. My favorite St. Patrick’s Day crafts, especially for young children (2-4 years), are simple: simply cut large shamrock shapes out of green construction paper (there’s a good template here if you prefer to use one), then use your imagination to decorate.
Kids as young as 2 years old can decorate the shamrock shapes with pieces of colorful paper and foil. Slightly older kids that are OK around small objects can use buttons, beads and glitter. Children can also draw faces on the shamrocks (use plastic craft “eyes” for added fun) and glue bits of yarn as “hair.” It’s also fun to glue the finished shamrock to a popsicle stick and turn it into a puppet. As always, just let the kids use their imagination, and have fun!
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography
by Vered @ The Baby Bunch on March 3, 2010
Yes! Baking and decorating cookies with your kids qualifies as a craft. It’s fun, it’s creative – it’s the perfect thing to do with your kids on a long winter afternoon.
Of course, TV commercials, especially around the winter holidays, try to get you to buy pre-made cookie dough and to just bake it. This may be easy, but where’s the fun in that? Making cookies from scratch is actually very easy. Chocolate chip cookies are always a hit, and in a way they are the easiest because you just mix the dough and drop it by the spoonfuls – no need to refrigerate and roll out the dough.
But homemade sugar cookies are exquisite, easy and fun to decorate. Here is the recipe that I like to use:
Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients for 10 large cookies (double the recipe if you want more):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Cream butter and sugar, using a whisker or an electric mixer, until fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg.
4. Stir in the vanilla.
5. Mix thoroughly to create dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
7. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness (we like our cookies thick).
8. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
9. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake until edges begin to brown, about 15 minutes.
10. Cool and decorate, if you wish (trust me, your kids will wish).
Icing:
1/3 cup softened butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix icing ingredients together until smooth. Separate into different bowls and add a drop of food coloring to each bowl. Spread on cookies with a butter knife, and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or with colored sugar.
Photo by omniNate
