I happened to have a sheet of green sandpaper, and realized it would be perfect for a few Irish shamrock crafts as we gear up for St. Patrick’s Day!

For the first project, I cut small shamrock shapes from the green sandpaper, and then used a hole punch to add a hole near the top of each. A piece of green lacing cord would be perfect for threading!

I encouraged Veronika to thread the lace through the hole of each clover. After a few tries, she seemed to tire of the task so I finished up her necklace.

She sure loved wearing this adornment, though! I realized it will make a great homemade alternative to the light-up shamrock bling the kids usually get at the St. Patrick’s Day parade (cancelled of course this year).

Note: If you don’t have green sandpaper, you can also cut the shamrocks for this necklace from green construction paper. A shoelace would work well for the thread!

For the second project, I cut several sizes of shamrock from green and orange sandpaper.

I placed these under regular white paper and showed Veronika how to rub over them with the side of a green crayon. The shamrocks are magically revealed!

She needed a little help for this step, especially rubbing the crayon with enough force, but she also proudly wanted to try it solo.

It was particularly neat to see how different textures of sandpaper came through; the rougher green sandpaper resulted in a darker and more pronounced rubbing than the fine-grained orange sandpaper.

“It’s a shamrock!” she said with delight each time. Both of these crafts are a great way to introduce toddlers to the symbolism and colors of St. Patrick’s Day.