A Saint Patrick's Day Puppet Story For Children

In addition to our traditional Saint Patrick's day activity,

I also prepared a short little standing puppet show.  The story is based on a traditional Saint Patrick's day tale I found while searching online and my children loved it. 

Here is a quick version of the story:

One day a little leprechaun named Lucky, was admiring the pot of gold he had been collecting for a long time.  He had been keeping it safe in his home but began to worry that someone might find it and try to take it away.

Lucky took a walk to the woods where he looked around for the perfect hiding spot for his gold.  He saw a tall oak tree and decided he would hide his gold in the earth under the tree.

After his pot of gold was buried, Lucky felt his gold was safe and now no one would find it.

Just as Lucky was heading back to his home a Woodsman spotted him.  "I can't believe my luck," thought the Woodsman, "I have caught a leprechaun and now I will get his gold!"   The Woodsman danced with happiness and shouted, "I have found you leprechaun and now you must give me your pot of gold."  Lucky was very upset that he had been so careless and was caught by the Woodsman.  But, Lucky was also very clever, as all leprechauns are, and knew how to trick his way out of giving the Woodsman his pot of gold.

"You are right, Woodsman.  You did catch me and so now I must show you where I keep my pot of gold.  Here. I have buried it in the earth right here."  "Hooray", danced the Woodsman. Now I will have all of the gold I need."  "But, wait, dear Woodsman," said Lucky.  How will you dig out the buried gold?  You do not have a shovel?"  "You are right," said the Woodsman.  "Here, I will mark the spot of the buried gold with a red bow. Then, when I return, I will know exactly where the gold is buried."  The Woodsman laid the bow on the ground and set off to get his shovel.

"Ha, ha," chuckled Lucky as he quickly tied many more red bows and laid them on the ground.  Lucky tied and tied until the whole forest floor was covered with red ribbons.

When the Woodsman returned with his shovel he couldn't believe his eyes.  The whole forest was covered with red bows.  "Now how do I  know where to dig?" he shouted.

 
The Woodsman could not remember where the gold was anymore, there were too many bows.  He stomped off back towards his house while Lucky the leprechaun laughed at the trick he had used to keep his gold safe.



After I preformed the puppet show, I left out all of the pieces for the children to reenact the story.  They all loved the story and it has been used for two days, as well as an inspiration for various other puppet shows, too.

Spring Bulbs and an Indoor Picnic

Each winter, around Christmas, many stores can be found selling flower bulbs.  I always buy some to give away as Christmas presents and to force bulbs in February at home.  We found a variety of bulbs at the hardware store and food store this year and I ended up buying more than usual.

Some came with the special glass jar for holding the bulb.  It is a great way for children to watch the growing process- first with the roots and then the green shoot and last the flower.  My daughters get so excited to see the first sign of the blossom and what color it is.

                                       We planted these in soil and added rocks to the top.

                             These are sitting on the top of spice jars and surrounded by gravel.

This little bulb is sitting on a rock inside the jar and the roots are submerged in water. Be careful not to let the bulb sit in water-it will rot- just the roots in water.

And for fun, a cute little photo of a recent indoor picnic- perhaps inspired by all the flowers?  It made me think that just a few props- blanket, picnic basket, play food and dishes can inspire great play.