One Day We Are ALL Irish!

One Day We Are ALL Irish!

Julia @ Kids Matter

       One day a year, March 17th, we are ALL Irish. That is St. Patrick’s Day; a fun, festive day when, if not festooned with green, you may get pinched. But, what is the history of this holiday? Who was Saint Patrick? Are the legends true? Did he really rid the Emerald Isle of Snakes?!

          Actually no, that is not why we celebrate the official Apostle of Ireland. He is celebrated for bringing the Catholic Church to Ireland and teaching his faith using the three sided clover as a visual aid. The clover is still the country’s official flower.

          His death on March 17^th, 461 A.D. is the day we celebrate to this day. But, how did the Irish in the first century celebrate compared to how we celebrate today? The Irish would attend services in the morning. They then had celebrations feasting on bacon and cabbage, then dancing and singing well into the night! There were no parades, no wearing of green, or cheering lads with a pint of green beer! Those traditions didn’t come until much later and were initiated by Irish immigrants in America.

          The first celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day in America was in the early days of the thirteen colonies. It was organized by The Charitable Irish Society of Boston. The society's purpose for gathering was simply to honor its homeland; however, they also coordinated charitable works for the Irish community in Boston. They attended services and had a special dinner later that night. These celebrations were very similar to the traditions of the ‘Old Country’.

          The first St. Patrick’s Day parade occurred in New York City in 1762, when Irish soldiers, serving in the English Army, marched the American streets reconnecting to their Irish roots. This act inspired all those of Irish blood to participate. Today, it is not only the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade, but also the largest parade period in the world, hosting 150,000 people and taking five hours to complete! Other major cities that have large Irish populations such as, Savannah, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia have parades of upwards to 50,000 participants each year.

          In Chicago, they dye their river GREEN, with vegetable dye! It is the most fantastic shade of green and lasts for several hours. As you can see from the picture above, it’s amazing! As part of the Washington D.C. celebration, the White House also dyes its front fountain green.

          So, join me and thousands of others this Saint Patrick’s Day. Put on your best green shirt and dance a jig to celebrate the life of one of the most beloved Saints in the world!

Erin Go Bragh!!

For additional information on St. Patrick’s Day please visit:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_Irish_Society_of_Boston
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day_in_the_United...

Monday Meanderings - Halloween Costumes

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought it would be a good time to post some homemade Halloween costumes that you can make inexpensively!

First we have Mom Inc Daily with an adorable Octopus Costume that she was able to whip together in no time. Not to mention, the supplies were cheap.

This next costume is on my list of possibilities! Geek Mom did an amazing job of turning her son into a tractor. Wonder if I can talk my son into being a tractor?

On Coolest Homemade Costumes they have this adorable Oompa Loompa costume that would be easy to recreate.

I will be back next week with some more great homemade costumes!

Colored Rice - Part Two

Well, the colored rice from September 9th was pretty and fun to play with but I quickly grew tired of walking on little pieces of rice. I then decided to take matters into my own hands.

I had been in Hobby Lobby and they had several charms on clearance so I had purchased them not knowing what I would do with them. I decided the rice would make a perfect I Spy bottle.

I tore the label off of an empty water bottle, poured in the rice and then added the charms, after I had taken a picture of them. My son can not read yet so this is his picture code of what needs to be found in the bottle.

He plays with this quite often and I am happy to report I have not stepped on the first piece of rice since sealing the bottle. It is win-win for both of us!

Monday Meanderings - Homemade Toys

It seems like every time I turn around my child is begging for the latest and greatest new toy or one of his friends is having a birthday and needs the latest and greatest new toy.

In an effort to simplify some, I thought we would look at some good homemade toys this week. Some are easier than others and some are more expensive than others.

First up is Crumbs in my Couch with this very cool construction table. My son would love that! I think we could get quite a bit of usage out of that in our house.

Once he plays with the construction site, he will need a bath so why not make some soap with a toy inside. He will scrub more than usual just to get to the toy. The directions can be found at Mommy D's Kitchen. This can only be a good thing.

Next we have home made tinker toys and it does not get much cheaper than this. A few basic household supplies and you have a whole hour or two to yourself while your child uses her imagination. Thanks to Kitsune for this great reminder.

Last but not least here are some great ideas with the common cardboard box.

A kitchen from Grassroots Modern

A house from Ehow.

And we can not forget the rocket ship from No time for flash cards.

I hope this inspires everyone to find some simple toys to expand the imagination of childhood.

Making a Memory Game

We have all seen the pre-packaged memory games in the retailers. They are fun but you can make one for next to nothing that is focused on your child's interests.

We have a huge beach/fish theme in our house so we made one with that theme.

I was in Goodwill, which is a great place to find supplies for crafts and activities for next to nothing. While cruising the aisles, I saw a HUGE bag of shells for $1.00. There were near 200 shells in this bag. I went ahead and purchased it having no idea what I would use them for. After a couple of weeks of staring at them and picking them up after my son played with them I decided to make them into a memory game. I dug through our sticker stash and found some beach themed stickers. I needed two of each stickers so I just dug around until I found matching ones. I did not have enough beach themed stickers to make a whole game so I did use some other animal stickers but my son does not seem to mind. Most of these stickers came from Target's dollar spot or from Michael's dollar area.

I found shells that were close in size and then I cleaned and dried them well. Once they were dry, I just stuck the stickers inside them. You can not have stickers that are too big so keep that in mind when looking for stickers.

When it is time to play, just lay the shells in a grid, sticker side down and then you follow the original memory game rules. When we first started, I set the matching ones side by side to let him learn the concept.

As for storage of my homemade games and manipulatives, I use empty food containers. The memory game is stored in an empty oatmeal container. I used card stock to cover the old label and secured it with double stick tape to the outside of the container. I then made a label for the container.

Monday Meanderings - Fairy Gardens

As you look around the Internet, Fairy Gardens are still very big. Before I had my son, I worked part time at a local garden center so I could get a discount on my home landscaping and she made some beautiful Fairy Gardens. It is just enchanting to see these little gardens with everything done in a miniature form. They usually contain small plants and dollhouse sized furniture which is easy to come by.

I am going to include pictures of some of the beautiful Fairy Gardens I have come across but please only use these as starting points, this is a time to let the kid's creativity come alive. If your child is not really interested in fairies, you could always make it a Dragon Garden, Prehistoric Dinosaur Land or even a Commando Jungle with little army men.

Do you believe in fairies? has some great information on things needed to attract fairies to the garden. As we all know, fairies are particular about their environment.

Mystic Mountain Arts has some beautiful examples of fairy gardens. There are plenty of pictures and they range in size from planters to gardens.

Sugar Creek Gardens even shows that it is a good idea to decorate for the holidays for your fairies if you want to keep them around all the time.

Now that I have give you some visuals to look at I want to give you some ideas for supplies. When I worked at the garden center, we found supplies everywhere. The craft store is a good spot to find tiny terracotta pots, the stained glass shop is a great place to find scraps of glass that are suitable for ponds, creeks, etc. The fairy houses can be made of small sticks from your backyard stacked up log cabin style or you can cover a small milk carton with the sticks. If you have a large tree that you are planting the garden by, you can attach a dollhouse door to the tree to serve as your fairy door. Trust me, the fairies will use their magic to open the doors.

I hope you will take the time to bring a little magic and outdoor time into your life by planting a fairy garden.

Going Green

Everyone needs to do their part to conserve energy and natural resources. There are large and small things that we can do everyday and there is no better time to teach our kids this than during the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

I am sure this post will not be ground breaking for most people, as on the whole we all do things to save resources.

Reduce - I have been a huge fan of the 100 calorie packs of snacks you can buy. It lets me know immediately how many pieces I can have and just use 100 calories. The problem is that all of those little packages are packed inside of another bigger package and that is generating unnecessary waste and wasting fuel and energy to produce. I try to be conscious of the packaging of an item prior to purchase and have not purchased things due to the excessive packaging. Toys are some of the worst for unnecessary packaging.

Re-use - There are tons of thrift stores all over the world now. Why not check one out? You never know what you may find. I have walked into them before and found brand new stock with the tags still attached from department stores. I have also found lots of useful items to occupy my son like books, puzzles, toys and trays. We got some cheap old dishes and pans for him to use when he plays with his toy food. I will also often go and pick up clothes that I may not wear but will make good material to re-purpose into other things like quilts and doll clothes.

Recycle - Everyone knows that we must recycle all items that our community allows. This includes cans, bottles, paper, newspapers, plastics, magazines and the list goes on. Do not just think of the recycling container though when you are done with than item. Magazines can be donated to hospitals or doctors offices or even schools to use for collage items. Many items can be re-used for craft projects, try and be creative.

In addition to the three R's, I try to limit the chemicals that I bring into my house. We are not perfect but baby steps can get a long way. I make our cleansers now using regular household items including; water, vinegar and rubbing alcohol. See a sampling of cleaner recipes below:

General cleaning:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water

Mix in a spray bottle and use for counters, tubs, sinks, outside of toilets and etc.

Glass Cleaner
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
1 tbsp white vinegar

Mix in a spray bottle and use for windows and mirrors.

I am not going to list more cleaning solutions as there are millions all over the Internet but you get the idea. I mix these up and then on the outside of the spray bottle I write the ingredients so I know what I need to refill the bottles.

I am no expert on Going Green, but I do what I can and I try to teach my child the same values. Children will pick up from their families and friends about what the important things are in life and this should be an important thing for all of us. What are you doing to go green?