Tomorrow is St. Patty’s Day, and it’s not too late for your pesky household leprechaun to get into mischief. If you’re looking for a way to entertain your kids, here are a few last-minute ways to make St. Patrick’s Day funScavengerHunt.
1. Eat your greens…
If you don’t already have food dye, run to the store and buy some. Then while your little angels are off at school, dye their milk green. Dye their water green. Dye their yogurt green. Use your imagination, but be careful to not turn anything blue…or brown (think: orange juice and green dye). Remember what you learned in third-grade art about mixing colors.
2. Mommy, I think something’s wrong with the toilet…
Don’t limit yourself to just dying food products green. How about toilet water? Look at her little face. Wow, it’s so easy at this age, isn’t it? “Hey kid, did you check the upstairs bathroom? Those leprechauns….”
3. This one could backfire, but remember leprechauns are messy pranksters…
Those mischief makers are always making messes, even after you clean up! A word to the wise, don’t wreck anything you don’t mind putting away. Another idea is to build something. I think the leprechaun in my house is going to create a green Lego castle while somebody’s at school.
4. Follow the trail of gold (er, copper)…
Make a trail of pennies for your child to follow until he discovers his own pot of gold! (Or copper-plated zinc. Whatever.) You could also have your child find those gold coin chocolates, if you don’t mind giving them a sweet treat!
5. Solve the riddles on a scavenger hunt!
This one takes a little more doing, but it’s still pretty simple. Make up three to four clues that lead to various places around your house or neighborhood. Ideally the clues involve green, Ireland, or St. Patty’s-themed answers, but that might be a tall order. Let the clues ultimately lead to a pot of gold (pennies, treats, etc).
Write them on index cards in green ink. Extra points for leprechaun stampers or stickers. Winning points if your clues rhyme. Here are some examples:
It’s a St. Patrick’s Day game
Which isn’t too lame
To win a pot of gold
Find the first clue in the ice and cold (freezer)
The next clue you’ll find
Is a place you go all the time
Come and see
The next clue is where you pee!
Your next clue is a mass
Of fluffy bright green grass
It isn’t too hard
To find the clue left in the yard
You’re getting near
To the treat you hold dear
Ready, set, vroom
The pot of gold is in your room!
You can probably do better than this, but as you can see: you don’t need to be the bard to come with rhymes, they aren’t very hard.
(I’ll stop.)
Enjoy amusing yourself (er, your kids!) with these fun St. Patrick’s Day tricks.
Q: What did you do on St. Patrick’s Day with your kids?
Here’s a pdf version of the scavenger hunt clues for your convenience: ScavengerHunt
