Pot of Gold St. Patrick’s Day Craft

My son asked to make a St. Patrick’s Day craft today. I didn’t have anything planned but I made a few suggestions and he said he wanted to make a pot of gold.

Materials

• cup or plastic container (we recycled an applesauce container)
• construction paper: black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (optional), and purple
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors
• glue

Directions

1. Cut a length of black construction paper long enough to wrap your plastic cup or container and glue the paper around the container.

2. Measure and cut 1″ strips from the other colors of construction paper.

3. Starting with the red, paste each strip in an arc onto the inside of your cup. Repeat with each strip in rainbow order, shortening each subsequent strip by approximately 1/2″.

4. Cut the rest of the yellow paper into squares and crumple into balls. Put into the “pot” to be your “gold.”

Hope you find the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow!

Educational Connections

• Science: Investigate what makes a rainbow in an age-appropriate way.  Recreate a rainbow with a garden hose on a sunny day. Does the rainbow appear when the sun is behind or in front of the spray of water? Younger children will learn that sun shining through the water droplets makes a rainbow. Older children will learn that light is made up of all colors and that the water acts like a prism, splitting the light into separate colors.  Advanced students may study the different wavelengths of colors.
• Science/Geology: How do we find gold? What are some of the uses of gold? Why is gold a precious metal?
• Weather: Once children understand what makes a rainbow, ask what types of weather are likely conditions for a rainbow and in which season(s) rainbows would be most common.
• Ecology: Can you find a plant or animal for each color of the rainbow? Make a rainbow collage of the pictures.
• Home Arts: “Eating a rainbow” of fruits and vegetables can help you maintain a healthy diet.  What do these colors mean when you see them in fruits and vegetables?
• Art: Make a rainbow with only red, yellow, and blue paint. If you blend the colors, what happens?
• History and Culture: How did other cultures view rainbows?  What gods or goddesses and myths and legends are associated with rainbows?