St. Patrick's Day is a holiday that is cultural, not political. As such, it is always important for all types of teachers to teach their students about the importance of being culturally open; that is, they should keep an open mind to every culture that they encounter. St. Patrick's Day, of course, is not an exception. To help your students understand this holiday, you may decide to integrate an arts and crafts section into your lesson plans. The following article will give you a few crafts ideas that are great for St. Patrick's Day (and can be changed for other holidays, too).

First, you should encourage your students to understand the history behind this holiday. Have them research the history and then write a summary about it. Ask them the following questions:

- How is this holiday a cultural one? What would make it not a cultural one?

- Why is this holiday important to some people? Can it be important to other people, as well?

Once they have answered these questions, they can begin to create their personal interpretation of St. Patrick's Day.

For this arts and craft's idea, your students will create their own leprechaun. This is a great website that offers a template for a leprechaun. After that, your students are free to color or decorate the leprechaun as they choose. They can use various nick knacks, supplied by you and purchased at the arts and crafts store, to accessorize the leprechaun. Ask your students why they choose certain things to represent a part of the leprechaun.

Once all of the leprechauns are finished, use thumbtacks to attach them to your bulletin board. You can also add a pot of gold, if you wish, as well as a rainbow.

Next, ask your students to wrap flat, circular pieces of wood (or you can use bottle caps and other flat disks) with tin foil. These will represent coins. Before your students wrap the "coins" up, you will ask them to write little wishes on a small piece of paper. They will place these papers (one each) into each "coin" before it is wrapped up. Then, place all of the coins in a basket or pot. Mix them up and ask each student to pick one coin from the pot. Read the wishes out loud. How do the wishes differ? What are some similarities? What does this say about cultural holidays in general?

These craft ideas seek to teach students about the value of culture, and the ways of preserving or representing cultures.

Learn more about this author, Joan Inong.
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