50 Things to do for St. Patrick's Day

50 Saint Patrick's Day Activities for Kids and Seniors

Are you in charge of the Saint Patrick's Day festivities? Maybe you plan group activities for a church group, after-school program, nursing home, or a retirement home. If you are planning things to do for a St. Patrick's Day event, you've come to the right place. Whether you need nifty refreshments or fun food to make with the group, we've got a recipe. Play Leprechaun games, make a rainbow craft, or decorate with shamrocks- no matter what you choose be sure to make it fun with these 50 fun things to do. Enjoy!

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50 Things to do for St. Patrick's Day.

3 Fun Rainbow Cake Recipes for Girl Scouts

How to make a Rainbow Cake for Girl Scouts

Have a Girl Scout? Are you planning a celebration for your Scout Troop? These Rainbow Girl Scout Cakes are made with a box cake mix and American buttercream icing. They are fun to make as a group. They're even more fun to eat! Scroll down to see the easy recipes and learn how to make a Rainbow Cake for a Girl Scout Troop!

This post contains affiliate links.

Girl Scout Logo Cake

This 11x15 Girl Scout cake with American buttercream icing is made with ready made green Wilton fondant and a box of white cake mix. The flowers are made with a number 18 star tip with a white dot of icing in the middle of each. Trace the pattern on a piece of paper and trace it out with edible markers, then cut out with kitchen shears. Easy peasy!

The icing is a homemade whipped buttercream. The Girl Scout cake is an 11x15 Betty Crocker cake mix, but add 3 eggs, 1 stick melted butter, and 1 cup milk instead of following the box directions.

How to Make a Rainbow Cake with Colored Batter

If you want to make your cake batter rainbow colored too, check out this recipe for Rainbow Cake. The Girl Scout Troop will love mixing this one.

• First, mix up cake batter, you can make a white cake from scratch or use your favorite white cake from a box.
• Divide the batter evenly between 6 bowls.
• Add food coloring, stir to combine.
• Pour batter evenly into two 8 inch pans in reverse order. (Darkest colors first.)
• Bake as directed.
• Level the cakes.
• Put icing in between the layers, stack, spread icing on the outside.

A birthday is the perfect excuse to make a rainbow cake, but who needs an excuse? After reading several different tutorials on how to make a rainbow cake and cupcakes, we got started.  First, mix up a box of white cake mix following the package directions, or you can use your favorite homemade cake recipe. Then, involve the Girl Scout Troop. Let them count out the bowls, (you need 1 bowl for each color of the rainbow)  mix in the food coloring. 

Why stop at Rainbow batter and icing, when you can make your cake the shape of a Unicorn? It is easy to make a Rainbow Unicorn Cake too!

How to Make a Rainbow Unicorn Cake Recipe

Use the same cake mix and directions to tweak it as in the Girl Scout Cake above.
This time, use  8" round cake pans.
Fill the pans just over 3/4 way full. (You'll need two cake mixes.)
Wrap the pans with a wet towel strip. (This helps them to rise.)
Ice with the same whipped buttercream as above.
Unicorn horn is an ice cream cone sprayed with Wilton brand gold edible glitter spray.
Ears are pink card stock with a toothpick to hold them in place.
Flowers are made with different size star tips as mentioned above in the logo cake.
For color, use Wilton gel food coloring. Black is Wilton brand gel icing.


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Rainbow Fish Theme Sensory Fishing Activity and Craft for Preschoolers

Make a Rainbow Fish to the Rescue Sensory Pretend Play Fishing Activity for Preschoolers and Toddlers

Looking for fun, fishing activities? These aquarium crafts (fish in a bag) and make believe hoola hoop fishing ponds are perfect activities to try after reading one of the Rainbow Fish stories.

Rainbow Fish is a fun story about a school of sparkly scale fish who won't allow a little fish without the sparkle to play, similar to the story of Rudolph and the Reindeer Games. This is a great story to teach about inclusion and kindness. What theme for preschool could be more fun than Rainbow Fish?

Sharpies and Ziploc Baggie for Aquarium craft project for kids.

To Make Baggie Aquarium, You will need: 

Ziploc Baggies

Sharpie Markers

Blue Hair Gel

Blue Shampoo

Foamies

Fill the aquarium with foam fish or make a dino terrarium.

Color an underwater scene on the bag. As an alternative, you can cut out fishy shapes and insert them to slosh around in the goo. Fill bag with about 1/4 C. of gel for a sparkly, ocean effect. For bubbles add a small squirt of shampoo. (Little ones loved squishing and watching the bubbles appear.) Tightly zip bag and tape to window or mirror. Squish away your stress!

Gel is sparkly, add a little blue shampoo for fishy bubbles.

Creative Play Element Fishing Activity: Pretend a Hoola-hoop is a fish pond.

Companion Games and Activities for Rainbow Fish:

Rainbow Fish to the Rescue is a perfect story compliment.

Then using a sparkly piece of foam, I cut out a scale and taped 

it to "its" shirt for Tag.

It took the little one a few minutes to catch on to the game of

tag. (Some didn't want anything to do with the scale.) But it is

so much fun watching as they learn the game and start running

after each other.

Tip:  Miss Lora preferred the gel to the shampoo. It is thicker

and looks more like real ocean water but the little ones loved

the bubbles. 

Moral:  It's not about making the perfect craft, it is 

all about the process and the fun of experimenting!

We like to add a creative play element.

• Hoola-hoop Pond
• Pool Noodle Fish (Cut-up)
• Pail for the Catch
• Squiggly Pole to pretend 

Cut a scale from sparkly foam and tape to shirts.

Best Rainbow Fish Ever

I adore this beautiful clay and sequin rainbow fish craft activity from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots.

Sequin and Clay Rainbow Fish Craft Activity.

Recommended Reading:

5 Aquarium Crafts for Kids: Fishing Activities

Rainbow Fish to the Rescue*

Sensory Play with Gummy Worms Game

Take a Field Trip to the Manatee Viewing Center in Florida













ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Girl Scout Activity: Pony Bead Rainbow Drink Coaster Tutorial

Hey Girl Scouts! Bake a Rainbow Drink Coaster in your Oven with Pony Beads

Michelle at, Life is My Lemonade, is guest posting. Michelle is busy with her daughter's Girl Scout Troop. They are always up to some new, creative endeavor. This time they are crafting up a rainbow with Pony Beads. We've crafted with Pony Beads in the past, but we always used an iron. How fun to bake them like a cookie!  Enjoy!

Being a Girl Scout leader requires you to have craft materials on hand. After a project is finished, you have leftovers. We had a lot of leftover Pony Beads. The girls decided to do something different from swaps.  We landed on rainbow drink coasters. Scroll down to see how to make rainbow drink coasters with Pony Beads.

Megan making her Rainbow Coaster.

Recipe for Rainbow Coasters:

You will need:

30 Red Pony Beads

24 Orange Pony Beads

18 Yellow Pony Beads

12 Green Pony Beads

5 Blue Pony Beads

1 Purple Pony Bead

The pan used for the coaster was a 4 x 1 1/4 Round Cake Pan.  

Arrange the beads with the holes up and then bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Choose which coaster you like best, and set the stove timer accordingly.

Transparent Pony Beads Baked for 15 minutes.

Beads melted in pan. Once they cool, they pop right out, 

and you can use the pan again for cooking food.

Opaque Pony beads baked for 20 minutes.

Recommended Reading:

Magic Creatures!: 25 Awesome Animals and Mythical Beings for a Rainbow of Critters*


The Rainbow Book*


Rainbow Coloring Sheet


Rainbow Slush

Recycled Scrap Paper Craft Rainbow Fish Theme for Preschool

Recycled Rainbow Fish Paper Craft and Companion Story Ideas

If you are teaching children how to care for fish, this Rainbow Fish recycled paper craft is an easy, fun aquarium activity to make.

Visit the Manatee Viewing Center in Florida

The story: Rainbow Fish is different and the other fish aren't very nice until they get to know him in all his glittery glory. Did you know he wrote a second story, 'Rainbow Fish to the Rescue'?  We have some fun, preschool companion book activities for both here. Rainbow Fish is the perfect theme for preschool curriculum.

Marcus Fister's Rainbow Fish. Fun theme for preschool.

Scrap Paper Rainbow Fish Craft for preschool.

We made this fish from our scrap paper box. You can photocopy a picture of Rainbow Fish to use as a pattern. Tip: Use Wrapping Paper scraps to make a sparkly Rainbow Fish Craft.

Recommended Reading:

Aquarium Craft Activities

Fishing Activity

Rainbow Fish to the Rescue!

Paint with Spaghetti

Color Wheel Ideas Creative Intro 2D Art Rainbows

Creative Color Wheel Project Ideas

Let's face it, kids don't want to paint a boring color wheel. Change up your color wheel lesson for your intro or homeschool art class with these creative ideas for a color wheel! It's still a basic rainbow color wheel, but when you let students add their own flair, it becomes an art project that they are happy to display.

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Simply show the students a basic color wheel or grab some prisms to teach the color order of the rainbow and let their imaginations run wild! You can use markers, tempera paint, or water colors. Water colors tend to blend easier for a gradual, visual color change. Use tempera for an exact mixing of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. There's more to color than ROY G. BIV.

What order do the colors go on the wheel? It depends where you start. Think about a rainbow or use a prism to display the colors in their natural light spectrum order. Allow students to paint anything they want as long as they demonstrate an understanding of the rainbow color wheel order.

Rainbow Activities

                                                 Use Prisms to show the rainbow of light spectrum colors.

How to Make a Creative Color Wheel

Color Wheel Project Supplies Needed:

Mixed Media Paper

Basic Water Color Paint Kit

Brushes

Egg Carton for Mixing and Rinsing

Table Cloth - Use kraft paper rolls like the ones pictured below.

You can find more ideas for a preschool or early elementary basic color wheels on our site. We also have a cool, color theory paper project with detailed information on the various color schemes. 

Classroom Skit about a Rainbow

Recommended:

3 Rainbow Cake Decorating Ideas

How to Make Rainbow Drink Coasters with Pony Beads

Rainbow Fish Construction Paper Art Project for Kids

Recipe: How to Make Rainbow Graham Cracker Sandwiches

Homemade Rainbow Slushy Recipe How to Make with Ice Pops

Homemade Rainbow Slushy Recipe to Make at Home

Guest Post by Tracey Thomas:  My kids and I decided to try out a cool “recipe” how to we discovered on Pinterest: Rainbow Slushies!  While it looks very cool, and it is something I never would have thought of on my own, it only cost us a whopping $3 to make! Which is great, since I am ALWAYS on the lookout for fun, inexpensive things we can do together. This is also a fun activity for all ages; my 4 year old was very involved, and it kept the interest of my older kids, as well. Target age: Preschooler to Fourth Grade

Rainbow Slushy How to... It's an Ice Cone in a party dish.

The steps are very simple; buy ‘ice pop’ style POPSICLES, freeze, and sort them by color (ours did not have the same amount of each color, but we made it work!).

Choose a glass dish (we used a 2 qt casserole dish) and pop it into the freezer to get it nice and cold.

After sorting the popsicles, place all of them back into the freezer to keep them from thawing out and only take out one color at a time as you are using it.

Prepping for Snow Cone.

• We started with grape at the bottom; open each grape popsicle and dump into a smaller bowl and crush them up. Be careful not to mush it up to the point that they are melting! (We eventually found it easier to crush them with a glass while still unopened and then dump them into the bowl and mix together.)

• Dump the smashed up bits into the glass dish that has been waiting in the freezer, and smooth it out with a fork or spoon.

Layering Popsicle Shaved Ice for a Rainbow Effect.

• Repeat with each color! Be sure to place glass dish back into the freezer between each color to prevent colors from running together.

Time to Party and Eat a yummy homemade slushy.

This would be great for birthday parties or pitch-ins, but we made it just because!

Rainbow Ice in a giant slushy. No cone needed.

Recommended Reading:


People's Pops: 55 Recipes for Ice Pops, Shave Ice, and Boozy Pops from Brooklyn's Coolest Pop Shop*

Rainbow Graham Cracker Sandwiches

What Makes a Rainbow*

Meet Leila from Green Rainbow Revolution and Submit Your Creative Ideas

Green Rainbow Revolution?  What it is it?  Is it a blog? A store? A movement? Yes! GRR is all of that and more. While it is still in development stages, there is already a lot going on, and you can be a part of the revolution.   The founder Leila Goldmark has a serious background. She studied Philosophy, Religious Studies, earned a J.D./L.L.M in International and Comparative Law degree, and she has an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she focused on social-eco entrepreneurship, leadership, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.   Phew... that's the short version. You can read about her in more detail here.  The idea for Green Rainbow Revolution was first born and nurtured during her time at Columbia.

But Leila is much more!  The product of an Architect and an Artist, her story is filled with interesting, impressive opportunities.  Learn more about her artistic side here. Hmm... serious attorney vs. free spirited artist? 

This background has led to GRR's need to focus on both the left and right side of the brain. Fascinated by the connection between art and science, Leila has pulled together an awesome selection of art and educational toys that will spark both sides of the brain.  Children learn through play.  The products at Green Rainbow Revolution will help foster fun activities necessary to grow great minds.

The fun products offered on the site are sustainable or the companies offer sustainability programs. Green Rainbow Revolution is doing the hard work for you. A portion of the proceeds goes back to help NGO's that provide art, environmental science, or social justice education for youth. You can help choose just click here for more information.

When you visit the site, Green Rainbow Revolution, you might notice there is still a lot of work to be done.  This is where you can help.  Do you have a creative idea for an art or science project?  Maybe you have an idea to start your own revolution?  Hop over and drop her a note. In the meantime, you can get involved by by learning more about her favorite revolutionaries, revolutionary kids, service project for kids, and important social justice projects by visiting Green Rainbow Revolution on Pinterest.

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Kitchen Kids: Rainbow Graham Cracker Sandwich Recipe

Fun Recipe for a Messy Preschool Class or After-school Snack

Enjoy a rainbow :-)

How to Make Rainbow Graham Cracker Sandwiches 

You need:

1 Box of Graham Crackers or make your own
2 Cups of Milk
Packages of Pudding Flavors in Red, Orange, Purple, Blue, Green, and Yellow.  (Or add food coloring to Vanilla Pudding)
Whipped Cream and Mini M and M's ~ Optional

To make:

Beat pudding mix and milk together until smooth.
Divide and add food coloring, mix together in individual bowls.
Spread one color onto 1/2 Graham Square
Add Graham Square for top cover, spread next color.
Repeat until you've used all colors.
Spread layer of whipped cream on sandwich and sprinkle with mini M and M's.

This is great for a Companion Color Theory Lesson Snack.

Recommended Reading:

Rainbow Color Wheel Lesson for Kids 

What Makes a Rainbow?

Saint Patrick's Day Party Games for Kids: Perfect for Circle Time

Planning a themed Saint Patrick's Day Party? 

These easy games can be played with one child or more. Try some leprechaun approved games for kids. Use these Saint Patrick's Day games in a circle time setting with preschoolers or early elementary school. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

Saint Patrick's Day Party Games for Kids.

SHAMROCKS Wand Rocks your Saint Patrick Day Parade Craft activity for kids

Easy craft activity for kids Shamrock HAT and WAND for your Saint Patrick Day Parade

Not feeling crafty? If you can fold paper in half and cut out a heart, you can make this easy St. Patrick's day shamrock craft. Yep, you can do it. Enjoy!

Wand shamrock craft for Saint Patrick Day.

Shamrocks are so easy to make; just fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart- three times. Paste these together, give them a stem, voila! Instant Shamrocks. Next, make a rainbow link chain to decorate your hat or wear as a boa. You can even hang them from the ceiling for a fun, festive room!

 Simple: 3 hearts glued together, taped to a straw with shiny ribbon =  instant magic leprechaun wand to carry and wave in your very own parade! We painted ours with glitter glue for added sparkle. Paint your straw green too!

Shamrock Hat with Rainbow Links for St. Patrick's Day.

Silly: The hat above was once a paper plate. We cut the center out but left a rectangle to use as a stem. Next, we painted it all with green paint mixed with glitter.

After it dries, add your shamrock hearts to top and bottom of the "stem".  The bottom shamrock make the bill of your hat and the top one makes a silly finial. We glued a rainbow linky around the back because every leprechaun loves a good rainbow.

Be careful... our paint was too watery and our plate went limp. You might want to use a styro-foam plate and paste your hearts to cardboard so your hat doesn't WILT like ours did. Above all, have fun....

Kids can't wait to begin the parade. They don't care how perfect the hat turns out! Now start marching around the house or classroom and have a scavenger hunt for a POT of GOLD. Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Recommended Reading:


Greening of Indy Canal

St. Paddy's Preschool Craft

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day*














ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Summer Camp at Home Themes, Schedules, and Tips

Themes and Activities for Summer Camp at Home

Want to give kids the experience of a great summer camp? Whether you do summer camp for your neighborhood, for a church youth group, or your local community, these summer camp at home themes, schedules, and tips will help you create the best, most fun summer camp for kids from six to sixteen! 

Post contains affiliate links.

Work in a retirement village or nursing home? Activity directors can adapt the activities for any age group. The objective is fun! Our website is full of fun, free camp activities, circle time activities, and group games. If you want everything at your fingertips (or on your clipboard) grab a copy of any of the books in our companion book series. These books are designed to help you organize and create an amazing youth group program or a simple, summer camp at home. 

Each books stands alone or get all 3 books for an organized summer camp, after-school program, or extra activities for vacation bible school. 

Our latest book, "Summer Camp at Home Handbook" has a total of five weeks of camp themes and activities. Each week includes: songs to sing, science experiments, group games, art activities, and fun themed snacks. It also includes a welcome pledge, icebreaker game, filler activities, planning calendars, printable today's birthday poster, activity schedule, daily menu poster, registration forms with allergy and photo permission features, and sample letters and forms to create a professional, organized camp program. If you want to do a full-on community summer camp, the only thing you'll need to add is insurance. Some small programs forego insurance for waivers and good luck. It's a good idea to get a short-term summer insurance policy if you plan to include your neighborhood or others outside of your close circle of friends and family.

Do you need a license to operate summer camp? That depends on your city and state. Check with your local government agencies, especially the board of health. Many churches (depending on state laws) are exempt and do not require visits from board of health or other agencies. Often, if the campers are participating in the prep of food it falls under different rules than if you are providing snacks. This is why the Summer Camp at Home Handbook includes theme snack activities and edible art. An easy way to avoid any trouble is to only provide prepackaged snacks and beverages (stay away from milk.) At the least, always have parents sign waivers, waivers, waivers. They won't completely protect you if someone decides to sue, but they do give everyone a heads up and let everyone know you are thinking ahead. Always have parents sign field trip waivers (you can make one for the entirety of camp and list out all pre-planned activities.) Also, be sure you have records of food allergies, immunizations, and authorized pick up persons. Finally, be aware of your state's childcare laws which vary based on the age of children in your care. To play it safe (when doing summer camp at home,) don't have more than five children that are not related to you in each camp session and always have another adult or camp counselor 18+ at your side.

Another thing to consider is first aid and safety training. Staff should be trained to recognize child predators in all childcare, summer camp, youth group, and school settings. In today's world, you can never be too safe or too prepared. That being said, if you are simply doing summer camp at home for your family, close friends, or homeschool group, not all of these steps may be required. However, it's better to be safe than sorry. Make sure you run background checks on anyone that will be regularly helping with your program. That includes your parents, aunts, and older children! This is a safety precaution designed to protect you in case something comes up. In your letter to parents, mention that all adults working with children have undergone a background check. Your local government probably has a background check option on their website.

A big safety consideration is water. Children may find pools and nearby bodies of water enticing. Always, always, keep count of the children in your immediate care. A good rule of thumb is to count kids every 20 minutes. If you are on a field trip or involved in a hectic group game, count them every 15 minutes. If you plan to include swimming in your camp activities or have a pool in your backyard, be aware that special precautions are needed and insurance rates will be higher.

Are you ready to get started hosting your own summer camp at home? Great! You'll want to start with our book, Summer Camp Handbook. This book is full of everything you need for five weeks of awesome summer camp.

Summer Camp Weekly Themes:

• It's all Rainbows: Rainbow Trails Song, Rainbow Snacks, Leprechaun Rainbow Skit, Rainbow Science Activities (Color and Prisms), and Get Moving Games.

• Silly Spaghetti: On Top of Spaghetti Song, Crunchy Spaghetti Recipe, Spaghetti Strength Science, Spaghetti Relays, and lots more.

• Eat Worms: Herman the Worm Song, Worm Theme Snacks, Snakes vs. Worms Game, How to Build a Worm Farm, Slurpin' for Worms, and lots more Worm Theme Games and Activities.

• Do Monkey Around: The Monkey Song, Banana Snacks, Banana Experiments, and Get Moving Games for Monkeys.

• Sharks vs Chickens: Baby Shark Song, Chicken Feed Snack, Egg Science Experiments, Shark and Chicken Hats, and lots of Games to Play as Sharks and Chickens.

With a blank, printable monthly calendar included in each weekly camp theme chapter and extra filler activities in case of a time emergency, the Summer Camp at Home Handbook is an essential tool whether it's your very first summer camp program or you are a seasoned camp director. Don't wait any longer, get on your way to the best summer camp ever today!

Our companion books are also available on Amazon in 8 x 10 paperback book format. These books give you extra credit as a camp director or activities director. Get organized with our 365 Planner. This handbook includes printable planning calendars, daily journal space with shareable quote of the day for note taking and planning, printable lesson/activity planning sheets, birthday logs, printable today's birthday poster, menu and activity schedules, and more. 

The 365 Activity Planner Journal, is a great companion handbook to Summer Camp at Home. It's also a great classroom resource planning tool for teachers. Whether you make copies of the printables to reuse again and again, or cuddle up on the sofa with the book to journal your activities, this handbook will help keep all of your thoughts and ideas organized with the added benefit of motivational quotes to keep you going strong. Get your 365 Activity Planner Journal now by clicking on the image.

And, if you are looking for fun games to play in a circle setting check out our Circle Time Handbook. This book includes 39 of the best ever games kids love. Tried and true, we played all of these games in our camp and after-school programs. This book is ideal for teachers who need to fill in some transitional time, afterschoolers who want to have a daily group rap sessions, preschool programs who realize the importance of circle time group activities, and summer camp programs who need filler material for rest breaks and other down time.

Ready, Get Set, Go! You can get all 3 books for under $40 on Amazon. 

Recommended:

Circle Time Activities on the Blog

Games for Kids

Homeschool Lessons and Activities

Free on the Blog, 50 Group Games for Preschool

Caregivers and Educators, check out Lora's Recommendations on Amazon 

and Follow us on Instagram for more fun ideas for children.

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