Make stuffed shamrocks for a fun craft. Cut large green shamrocks out of construction paper and punch holes around the edges. Give each child two of the shamrocks and show them how to lace the shamrocks together with yarn, leaving a few inches open. Give the children tissue paper to insert into the shamrocks before lacing them up. For an educational matching game, create cards with different amounts of shamrocks on them and corresponding cards with numbered leprechauns. Instruct the kids to match the amount of shamrocks with the numbered leprechauns.
Let the children make their own leprechaun hats by gluing a paper bowl to a plate. Have the kids paint the hats green and decorate with them stickers or drawings. For a leprechaun game, instruct the kids to sit in a circle and choose a child to sit in the middle and close his eyes. Have another child from the circle get a shamrock and sit on it. The kid in the middle of the circle now has to guess which child is sitting on the shamrock. Have the children take turns in the middle as the leprechaun.
Tell the children the story of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then have them make their own by spreading petroleum jelly on plastic bowls and then adding plaster of Paris to the surface. Once it's dry, have the children paint the bowl and fill it with gold chocolate coins. Children can also play bean bag toss. Cut a few holes in a large piece of card stock decorated as a pot of gold. Paint the bean bags to look like gold with yellow paint. You can also help the kids make their own edible gold coins by dipping sandwich cookies into melted butterscotch chips. Add green sprinkles for decoration.
Mix up green play dough for the kids to make their own St. Patrick's Day creations. Combine 1 cup of flour, ½ cup of salt, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 cup of water, 1 tbsp. of oil and green food coloring. Cook the mixture on medium heat until a ball forms as the dough. You can also have the children paint with green gelatin. Mix the gelatin with just a little water and have them paint with it. Once it dries, it will look shiny.