Well. we do love a good St Patrick’s Day Craft for Preschool. If you are looking for some gorgeous St Patrick’s Day Shamrocks and St Patrick’s Day Rainbows to make with toddlers, you may want to give this simple DIY Musical Instrument ago: A Paper Plate Tambourine for St Patrick’s Day!
These Paper Plate Tambourines are fabulous DIY Shaker Toys and make a great simple and super cute St Patrick’s Day Craft for 2 and 3yrs olds. We do love a fantastic Preschool St Patrick’s Day Craft.
I welcome back another lovely Toddler Craft contribution from Jennifer.
Paper Plate Tambourine for St Patrick’s Day
One of my daughter’s favorite crafts that we made for Valentine’s Day was our Stained Glass Heart Tambourines, so I knew that she’d want to make another version for St. Patrick’s Day.
I decided to double down and suggest two fun St Patrick’s Day designs for our tambourines: a Green Sparkly version with a “Shamrock window” and a cute Rainbow craft version, too. (Isn’t every little kid obsessed with glitter and rainbows? It definitely seems that way in my house!). We can just imagine those cheeky little Leprechauns making lots of St Patrick’s Day noise with our tambourines. So fun.
Both are super cute and easy for kids to do. The window on the Shamrock Craft needs some adult assistance, so if you want an exclusively kid-made tambourine, opt for our rainbow version instead!
Rather than use perler beads (as we did for our Heart Tambourine) I thought it would be fun to add gold coins to make the rattling sound in these tambourines. You catch a glimmer of them when playing and it adds just a bit more magic to this craft. We thought this would make a super fun craft St Patrick’s Day themed craft for kids.
Also, because the coins are larger than beads, you could have children “lace” the paper plates together rather than glue them if you wanted to add another dimension to this craft – great to help those fine motor skills. (But I’d probably still add a bit of glue to be safe.)
Preschool Paper Plate Tambourines – Supplies needed:
You can really have fun with your design.. either make your Tambourines complete green.. or completely rainbow.. or have them “reversible” – a lovely green shamrock on one side and a rainbow on the other. We give you instructions for making 2 Paper Plate Tambourines today! Such an easy craft for kids!
- 4 paper plates (two paper plates per St Patrick’s Day Tambourine)
- Glue (hot glue or clear school glue – hot glue is simply quicker, but normal PVA glue is just fine too)
- Green glitter paint
- Acrylic or tempera paint in all rainbow colors
- Paintbrushes
- Scissors
- Gold coin scatter (optional – you can of course use beans, beads or anything else you can think of! But by adding them, you get that pot of gold craft kind of feeling!)
- Plastic recyclable (ie, berry container)
- Shamrock template (or draw your own)
- A little paper or construction paper to make a paper shamrock template
Though we made this fun craft at home, I think it would be a cute classroom craft for kindergarten too!
How to make your Shamrock Paper Plate Tambourines (Step by Step Instructions)
Paint your paper plates in St Patrick’s Day Colours
Get the kiddos to paint the underside of two of the paper plates with green sparkly paint and let dry.
Meanwhile, paint a rainbow pattern on the underside of half of one or two of the remaining plates. (Double sided is best, but do what you have patience for.) Leave the other half of the plate blank for “clouds.”
Let the paint dry completely as you prepare the plastic recyclable for the “window” into the Green Tambourine.
Make your Gold Coing Spy Hole – with paper shamrocks
Cut out the shamrock template provided and cut a slightly larger piece of plastic to cover the hole you will be cutting in the paper plate. Ensure the plastic is clean.
When the plates are dry, trace and cut the shamrock shape out of one or both green sparkly plates.
Glue the piece of plastic to cover the shape – you may need to place something on top to hold it as it dries.
Assemble your Paper Plate Tambourine
Scatter 6-8 gold plastic coins onto one green sparkly plate and also the rainbow plate.
Glue the second sparkly plate so that the lip of the plates are touching (undersides facing out) to form a tambourine. Repeat with the rainbow plate.
Let glue dry before shaking.
Enjoy!! This cute and easy st patrick’s day craft is finished!
You may also love this easy Yarn Wrapped Shamrock for Preschoolers:
We have another set of fun ideas and easy st patrick’s day crafts for preschoolers here:
As well as these fabulous list of St Patrick’s Day ideas for kids of all ages:
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