Lucky Little Leprechauns {a year of creative play dates}

Oh friends, how is it March already? Spring break is coming and this Momma can't wait! In the meantime, I'm dreaming up all things green and gold.  I recently put together a sweet little playdate that will be perfect for all your little leprechauns. 

If you've read my other playdate posts, you know my play dates generally follow a simple formula:

1. A Snack 
2. A Craft
3. Lunch
4. An Activity

To start our play date we let the kids play and munch on some Lucky Charms cereal and green milk while the mommas had time to chat and get everything ready.

Some of our little leprechauns (cough*MINE*cough) only liked the marshmallows and wouldn't eat the rest of the cereal, but the green milk was a huge hit. The kids happily munched and played while we got the craft set up.

For our craft we made stained glass shamrocks to hang in the windows. These are super simple and all you need is some construction paper, green tissue paper, and some contact paper. We used a shamrock pattern from Time with Thea. Here's how you make them:

Stained Glass Shamrocks
1. Cut the shamrock pattern out of green paper
2. Cut out a square of contact paper large enough to cover the shamrock
3. Cut up one inch squares of tissue paper
4. Have your little one fill the inside of the shamrock with the tissue 
5. Cut another square of contact paper and place it on top to seal the two sides
6. Cut the excess contact paper away from the sides
7. Hang your stained glass shamrock in the window 

All three kids were able to independently complete this task, though the toddlers needed to be shown how first. My little guy much preferred to just sprinkle the squares of tissue over his, but that works too! It's hard to mess these up, just make sure you flatten the tissue paper before sealing it!

The shamrocks are beautiful as they are, but they look best hung in a window that gets lots of light.

While the kids finished up their shamrocks, I got lunch ready. On the menu today was a popcorn chicken pot of gold with a fruity rainbow and whipped cream cloud.

These were a HUGE hit and happy bellies = happy kids! I was a little afraid that some of our littles (cough*MINE*cough) would only eat the whipped cream, but they ate most of the chicken and fruit too! We pulled the green milk back out from the fridge where we stashed it to keep it cold during craft time.

While the kids ate, one of my fellow moms snuck back into the house and hid metallic green chocolate coins all over. When we were done with lunch we told them that a leprechaun had been to the house and hidden his treasure for them.

We gave each kid a black bucket to use as their pot and let them go to town finding and collecting the leprechaun's treasure.

We made sure all pieces were hidden down low at kid level so they would be easy and fun for them to find. 

We really didn't want our kids eating all that chocolate (especially all at once), so once all the coins had been collected, we told the kiddos that the leprechauns had left a special surprise for them, in exchange for finding their gold....

They devoured their dessert, and after sampling one myself, it isn't hard to see why. They are DELICIOUS.

Their also super simple to make. Follow the directions for Rice Krispie treats on the back of a pack of mini marshmallows, substituting Trix cereal for the Rice Krispies. I happened to find some limited edition mini Trix, So I used those.

These cuties will be reunited in a few weeks for our towns big St. Patrick's Day parade. I'd love to hear how you celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your littles, leave me a comment and let me know!