St. Patrick's Day Cookies

Recently I was thumbing through old magazines my mom gave me and tearing out ideas for future use when I came across a simple idea and wondered why I had not done this before: adding food coloring to the sugar cookie dough before baking. I think this came out of a 2 year old issue of Better Homes & Gardens, but I am not sure anymore. Normally, I get out our ingredients, mix up the dough, roll out our dough, cut out the cookies, wash the blades to the hand mixer and other bowls and utensils while cookies are baking, and then start a whole new mess mixing up a batch of frosting, but this avoids all that extra work (not to mention extra sugar, which face it, nobody in this family really needs). Smart right? Since I had just gotten the shamrock cookie cutter, this seemed like a good time to try it out, using green food coloring, of course.

My little kitchen helper and I used this recipe for cut-out cookies, which is a buttery cookie that is easy to cut out.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix.
2. In another bowl, stir the flour mixture, baking powder, and salt together. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until smooth.
3. I separated the dough into two balls since we were planning to make neon green and regular green cookies.
4. This is the point when we added food coloring. My little helper added much more then we needed, about 10 or maybe even 12 drops when 3 would have been fine. No big deal, though. Then, I used the hand mixer to combine it all again.
5. Then, I wrapped both balls of dough in plastic wrap and chilled them in the freezer for 15 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out cookies and place on cookie sheet. (Tip: I like to cover mine with parchment paper first.) Add sugar sprinkles, if desired. We used green, and lots of them when my little man was in charge.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Makes about 2 dozen cut-out cookies.

Shamrock Stamping with Cookie Cutters

Today, Logan did a print-making project using a shamrock shaped cookie cutter and some paint. I have thought to use cookie cutters for the obvious use -- cutout cookies -- and also for tracing tools and play dough tools, but it never occurred to me to use them as stamps. This is so simple and so clever, it is definitely one of those "why didn't I think of that?" ideas for preschool craft projects. This is the source of my inspiration for today's craft. We used a shamrock since St. Patrick's Day is coming up, but this is something that is versatile enough to work for any holiday or just because you feel like doing a project. I am picturing hearts for Valentine's Day, flowers for Mother's Day, eggs or crosses or bunnies for Easter, trees or stars or bells for Christmas and jack-'o-lanterns for Halloween just to name a few.

{Shamrock Print by Logan, Age 3 1/2}

Materials:

• cookie cutter/s 
• paint
• tray to hold paint
• paper
• newspaper or vinyl tablecloth (optional)

Directions:

1. First, I covered our work surface with a new-to-me vinyl tablecloth (which happens to be in a Halloween print, but I picked it up for a few cents at the church rummage sale for the sole purpose of crafting.) Newspaper also works. Tip: Also, before starting I had Logan put on his paint shirt, which is one of my old t-shirts that I make fit better by using a clothespin to gather the extra material at the back of the next.
2. Next, I mixed up two colors of powdered tempera paint: green, the obvious choice, and yellow, for some variety. I put both colors onto a Styrofoam tray (left over from some meat packaging and washed well; I am a fan of using what you have that is free.) Tip: You could also use ready-made tempera paint, or even acrylic if you are feeling brave. Add white if you like, or use more than one shade of green to get different effects. (Note: Acrylic paint stains fabrics, so be aware.)
3. I let Logan dip the cookie cutter into the paint, mixing it as he wanted to. Then, he just stamped it onto some paper, and repeated until he felt the print was finished. We used green construction paper, but you could also use cardstock or special paper for paint that you can purchase at craft stores. (Note: Our shamrock cookie cutter cost 99 cents and it came from Michaels, in case you are wondering where to find one. I checked many, many stores and nobody else had any, which surprised me.)
4. We let the paint dry completely and then I hung up Logan's stamped shamrock print.

Paint Chip Shamrock Mosaics

Here is an idea I found on Pinterest, of course. It is really simple to do and doesn't take long to prepare for. The other day, I was picking up some red and blue paint chips since I am planning to paint Logan's room at some point, so I grabbed half a dozen various shades of green as well. This was more than enough to make two shamrocks. Here is the source of the original idea.

Now that we have done this for St. Patrick's Day, I think we will try it again for different holidays: hearts for Valentine's Day, eggs for Easter, Christmas trees, flowers for Mother's Day, and so on. I think it could work for just about any occasion. Goodness knows I have enough paint chips around here...

{Shamrocks by Logan, Age 3 and Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• shamrock template
• cardstock
• printer
• paint chips
• scissors
• glue stick or glue
• bowl/s to hold paint chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Print off the desired number of shamrocks, or draw your own. I decided to make it easy on myself by using a template I found online. I printed our shamrocks on white cardstock for extra sturdiness. Next time, I think I will try using green cardstock instead. Tip: You can manipulate this with word processing software, if desired. For example, the shamrock was a little smaller than I wanted, so I copied it into Microsoft Word and enlarged it before printing.
2. Cut out shamrocks.
3. Cut your paint chips into squares with scissors. Tip: You can lay several on top on each other to make this process go a bit faster.
4. Give each child a template and some paint chips. Tip: I put paint chips into two different bowls to prevent squabbles.
5. Have kids glue paint chips onto the shamrocks. Allow glue to dry completely before displaying shamrocks. Tip: You could also have them decorate both sides to create hanging decorations.

Shaving Cream Shamrock Paintings

{Shaving Cream Shamrock Paintings by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• cereal box
• pencil
• scissors
• green paint
• shaving cream
• newspaper
• Styrofoam tray
• foam paintbrush

Directions:

1. Cut apart a cereal box into separate panels. Draw shamrock/s onto the cardboard and cut out. I drew ours freehand, but there are many templates available online. (If you have leftover narrow box panels, try this fun craft.)
2. Protect work surface with newspaper. Protect children's clothing or have them wear old clothes. Pour green paint into a Styrofoam tray and add shaving cream. (We used acrylic paint which will stain.)
3. Have your child paint the shamrock/s. Allow paint and shaving cream to dry completely. This will take several hours (up to a day). The finished painting will not be as puffy after it dries, but it will still have texture.

St. Patty's Day Sun Catcher Craft

This craft was inspired one that my friend Kim did with her kids. They made hearts for Valentine's Day and called them V-Day Sun Catchers. This craft requires a bit a parent prep, but it is simple enough for toddlers to do once you have prepared. Kids about 8 and up can most likely do this craft on their own.

{Shamrock Sun Catcher by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• green construction paper
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• green tissue paper
• pencil 
• clear tape
• paper trimmer (optional)
• hole punch (optional)
• yarn, string, ribbon, etc. for hanging (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut green tissue paper into small squares. Older kids can do this themselves. We used approximately 1/2 inch squares, but you could make yours bigger. Tip: We used two different shades of green tissue paper to give the sun catcher a more complex design. It looks especially nice where the two colors have overlapped in places.
2. Fold a piece of green construction paper in half like a hamburger (or use two pieces of construction paper if you would like to make a larger sun catcher).
3. Draw a shamrock shape (or trace around a cookie cutter or a picture from the internet) onto one half (or one piece) of the paper, and cut out the shamrock. Do not draw your design too close to the edges of the paper. Cut paper in half along the fold. You should now have two pieces of paper with identical shamrock cut-outs.  Tip: If you are using two pieces of paper, you will need to make sure they stay together so that you get identical shamrocks.
4. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper (I used both a paper trimmer and scissors for this.) so that they are 1/4 inch larger than the construction paper all the way around. Tip: Do not remove backing from contact paper until you are ready to use it.
5. Adhere one piece of paper to the clear contact paper so that there is a border of 1/4 inch all around the paper. Tip: Slowly peel the contact paper away from the backing as you smooth the construction paper down onto the contact paper. This way you don't end up with "bubbles."
6. Have your child stick tissue paper squares onto the contact paper shamrock shape until it is filled (or nearly filled like Mia's).
7. Layer the second piece of construction paper on top of the first, making sure that the shamrock shapes line up.
8. Add the second piece of contact paper over the top, smoothing it down as you go. Trim away excess if desired, but don't trim too much or the sun catcher will not stay together. 
9. You can display your sun catcher in a window using clear tape. Another option is to use a hole punch to make two holes near the top, thread some ribbon or yarn through the holes, tie it off, and then hang your sun catcher.