Between Valentine's Day and Easter there's a little day in mid-March when everyone dons green and acknowledges their inner Irish spirit: Saint Patrick's Day. With Saint Patrick's Day around the corner, here are some easy preschool crafts to help show a little Irish pride with leprechauns, shamrocks, and rainbows ending in the ever-ubiquitous pots of gold.

Little Leprechauns

How can children not love leprechauns? They serve as a mascot for the most sugary of cereals, they're comparable in size to the children themselves, and following them leads to fun things like rainbows and pots of shimmering gold. Since the leprechaun serves somewhat of an unofficial mascot of Saint Patrick's Day, try one of these easy preschool crafts to decorate the classroom.

This first craft is called "Leprechaun Children". Show the children pictures or images of leprechauns and have each draw or paint one of their own. After the picture has dried, cut out a thumbprint-sized photo of each child's face to glue onto the leprechaun. This craft can easily be converted into a magnet to hang on the fridge by laminating it with waxed paper.

The leprechaun hat is the central to the overall image of the leprechaun. A simple leprechaun hat can be made from paper plates and paper bowls. Cut a hole from the center of the paper plate just a bit smaller than the rim of the paper bowl. Attach the paper bowl to the hat with glue or staples, and have children paint and decorate their leprechaun hats.

Rock the Shamrock

Another image central to Saint Patrick's Day is the three-leaf clover or shamrock, since it serves as the official symbol of the republic of Ireland. The shamrock is generally said to bring good luck. While the shamrock doesn't lend itself quite as well to easy preschool crafts, since it's a pretty difficult shape to draw, there are a few ways of incorporating it into arts and crafts time.

Tape three soup cans together in a cluster and dip them in green paint for an excellent shamrock stamp. Just add the little tail with a stroke of paint and the children can make shamrocks to decorate with glitter or paint.

For another great shamrock craft, try this one where the children make fake stained glass shamrocks to hang in their windows. Using a stencil, have the children cut a simple shamrock out of contact paper or wax paper. To make the stained glass effect, place a piece of tissue paper on the contact paper. Use glue if using wax paper.

Everyone Loves Rainbows

Finally, the image of the rainbow features prominently in Saint Patrick's Day iconography. Here's a fun rainbow craft that turns out looking really cute and colorful. To begin, cut a cloud from white construction paper. Have the children glue strips of crepe paper in a variety of colors to the bottom of the cloud. If desired, they can add a pot of gold cut from construction paper to the bottom of the rainbow. Give these easy preschool crafts a try for a fun St Patrick's Day celebration.

Mary Robinson has been teaching preschool for well over a decade. You can get instant access to her preschool activities, crafts, and lesson plans by visiting her website:

http://www.preschoolwhiz.com

For a limited time, all visitors to Mary's site will also get a free copy of her special report: "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Preschool Teachers and Parents Make". Go get your free copy today!

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SUNDAY ARTS

Preschool Arts Crafts is a post from: Arts And Crafts Ideas

Wanting to try a new hobby? Or just needing to expand your library, Halfvalue is a great place to get Supplies and Instruction books you will need. Just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect and most artist are not born with the "know how" to get started. So look for Art & Craft Instruction Books. They can be the jumping off point for a new hobby or even for making money.
When looking for Art or Craft Instruction books, you must determine which media you want to try or use. There are Oil Paintings, Watercolors, Pastels, Acrylics, Quilting, Sewing, Decopage, Embroidery, Cross Stitch, Drawing, Pen and Ink, Pattern Books, You also will want to also look for books that have great pictures to help you "see" what you will be doing and to use as a comparison guide.
There have been thousands of books and booklets written for this purpose. Which ever media and type books you decide to try, always remember to read the description the buyer places in his/her listings. If you need more information email a message to the seller and ask specific questions. If you don't get an answer you may want to reconsider bidding on that particular book. Please give the seller time to respond, (we are not online every minute of every day). Also watch feedback. Sometimes bad communication is the cause for negative feedback and the seller is not really at fault, sometimes it is. The higher feedback the chances are you will have no problems. Sellers listings should tell you what payments they accept and where they will ship. Another thing to remember as a buyer, always check the shipping. International prices for shipping can be high, and I am sorry to say I have seen sellers charge high rates for shipping to cover looses on the item. ALWAYS check BEFORE bidding.
A last important thing when buying books to remember, make sure the condition of the book is fine for your use. Sometimes with old or used books, pages yellow, or get loose. Check the description to see that the books are in useable shape. I also have bought a book that looked like it came through a flood and was described as good shape. Most sellers are honestly trying to describe items clearly. But some ones "good shape" is someone else "poor" or even someone else "excellent". Ask before bidding any and all questions and at least with enough time allowed for seller to respond.
If you buy from a seller and enjoy the experience place that person in your Favorite Seller's to make searching esier, and faster for you. I have a lot of repeat customers and so do other sellers and we all love repeat buyers. Sellers and customers a like are looking for someone they can trust and increase the pleasure of "Halfvalueing". Search the sellers feedback to see if they constantly place these type of books, or email and ask them.
Some art and craft books are one time listings. You may never see that particular book again so bid if it is a price, and type book you want. Art and craft books are wonderful presents for those loved ones that you never know what to get for.

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School Arts Crafts is a post from: Arts And Crafts Ideas