Lace Up a Shamrock Tote Bag!

On St. Patrick’s Day, lots of second graders will be wearing green and celebrating the “luck of the Irish.”  For lots of kids, this is a time of leprechaun treasure hunts and little chocolate “gold” coins.  (And, in many classrooms, lots of fun math and language practice built in, too, as children add and subtract the treasure, and write notes to those silly little pranksters!)

As your child scampers around after all these goodies, why not add to the fun by helping him make a “shamrock tote bag” to hold the collection?  Here’s a simple plan that second graders should be able to do with minimal setup help from you.  As a learning bonus, kids will extend fine motor skill lessons that teachers have been encouraging since kindergarten, and that are crucial this year as second graders gain more control over their handwriting and prepare for cursive work next year.

You Will Need:

• 1 12x18” piece of green craft foam
• 2 9x12” pieces of craft foam with sticky back, one white and one light green
• Tote bag template (download here)
• Stick on shamrock templates (download here)
• Pen
• Optional: Flat sticky back “jewel” flowers
• Hole punch
• White lanyard string

What to Do:

1. Download the tote bag templates and use them to cut two green tote bag pieces. Lay them on top of one another, and use the hole punch to  make holes along the sides and bottom, ½” apart.
2. Cut one large white shamrock from the white sticky back foam sheet.
3. Lay three flat, yellow-colored heart shaped "jewels" in the center of the shamrock, and use a long rectangular jewel to make a jewel shamrock "stem" in the middle of the white shamrock, like this:
4. Optional: decorate around the shamrock with flat, sticky back jewels.
5. Now you’re ready to lace up your shamrock tote.   Cut a length of white lanyard string about 40” long.  Starting at the top, tie off one end of the lanyard string with a secure knot, and then whip stitch around the rest of the pouch. 
6. When you reach the top again, tie a knot to secure the whip stitch, but don’t cut off the rest of the string.  Use it to make a “shoulder strap” for your pouch!  Measure out the length you want, and tie it off on the other side of the pouch.  Clip off any extra string, and you are off and running, leprechaun gold galore!