FOR-KID CRAFT: Leprechaun Hats!

Posted by Ethne~

As I typed in the word ‘leprechaun’ to start out this post, I realized what a funny word it is.  We think of chubby little green guys, but is there more to it than that?  I looked into it: it seems we’re not too far off – the etymology of the word is believed to be Old Irish for ‘small’ ‘body’.  And the mythology is sprites who get into mischief.

Sounds a little lot like KD and Easy Mac – so this craft will be perfect for them! 

KD and Easy Mac messing with Aunt Heather's b-day cake...grrr!
Such rascals!

NOTE – if you want to do this, you will need to be creative about where you find your materials.  Thrifty Nana found the little cardboard pieces for the hats we’re making in packaging from a new computer.  They are perfect.  You can use cardboard, construction paper, Dixie cups, whatever you can find.

Mini hat forms

With my FREE hat forms, I found my green paint and brushes in my stash.  This was paint I previously had on hand from making fairy houses – so free to me – you can buy it at JoAnn for $1.00.

My loot

So first up, I painted the hats green, one lime green and one grass green (my paint pots have been used before, so I only had enough paint for one hat out of each color).

Drying green

Then, I dug around in my ribbon stash for some ¼” black ribbon, which I wrapped around the base of the hat and secured with my glue gun.  I glued on a glittery green shamrock to the front from a packet I had.

Perfection!

I then cut little leprechaun footprints out of lime green and grass green felt I had.

Making footies!

Where this becomes fun is how you play with them!

Thrifty Nana played this trick on us when Whit and I were girls - a leprechaun visited us the night of St. Patrick's Day Eve when we slept.  When we got up in the morning, little leprechaun tracks trailed around the kitchen and led into a cupboard - the little sprite was gone but he left a treat and his hat behind (Whit recalls it being Lucky Charms cereal, but I don't remember this).  So this is what we'll do for KD and Easy Mac too.  They'll love it.

Little green tracks

Who needs gold when you can eat a dum-dum lollipop!

FUN and FREE!  That leaves a few more coins for my pot o’ gold (whenever I find one).