St. Paddy's Footprints

 

            Today's Snack: Let's go Irish for St. Patrick's Day! Slice a soft dinner roll and stuff a little sliced corned beef in it. Add a little mustard if the student likes it, and maybe a bit of sliced cheese. Then pour a few drops of green food coloring into a clear glass of milk and stir.

 

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Supplies:

Bright green copy paper or construction paper

Photocopy the feet, below, at a reduced size, 10-15 | Scissors

Scotch tape | little child-safe, individually wrapped candies

 

 

            Here's a great way to delight little ones around St. Patrick's Day. Have older children plan and carry out this funny surprise. Perhaps an after-school group could arrange secretly with a preschool to set up this joke after the preschoolers have left for the day. Then it will be waiting for them in the morning!

 

            You also could put these feet up the principal's door and surprise him or her on St. Patrick's Day.

 

            First, print out the feet, below, and reduce the size so that you can fit 10-15 pairs of feet on each page. Then photocopy as many as you want on sheets of bright green copy paper.

 

            Then have the students use scissors to cut out little green footprints.

 

            When you're ready, work with the school janitor if you wish to get on a ladder, and tape little footprints to the ceiling, starting at an air vent or other opening in the ceiling. Roll up a little piece of tape into a circle and tape the footprint to the ceiling or wall. The footprints could trail across the ceiling and down the wall, as if leprechauns snuck into the room through the vent.

 

            Or arrange them any other way you think is fun - up and down a wall under a window, or magically appearing just inside the door, etc.

 

            As soon as you're finished with the footprints, leave candies for the children to "find" at the spot where the footprints "end," as if the leprechauns carried them into the room and then left. Small children will be fascinated by the surprise!

 

            And you will enjoy a bit of Irish humor in tricking them. Remember, the Wearin' o' the Green is nothing without the Kissin' o' the Blarney Stone!