Little Leprechaun

What You Need:

• Recycled paper tube (short)
• Any shade of flesh-colored tempera paint
• Green and pink foam
• Green construction paper
• 2 orange pipe cleaners
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Black marker
• Low temperature hot glue gun (*with adult supervision)
• Stapler
• Tape
• Lid (nearly twice the size of the circumference of the roll)

What You Do:

1. Have your child paint the top half of the tube with your chosen shade of flesh-colored paint. This will be the leprechaun's face. Let dry.
2. Roll the construction paper at the top of the painted paper roll for the tall part of the leprechaun's hat. Tape it from behind to hold it in place.
3. Cut down the top part of the hat if it's too tall. It should be tall enough so that it looks like a top hat.
4. Have your child roll construction paper around the bottom half of the paper roll to create the body of the leprechaun. Tape it from behind and cut off any excess paper.
5. Have your child trace a circle using the lid on a piece of green foam and cut it out.
6. Center the paper roll on the foam circle and trace it. Then, cut out the inner circle and set it aside.
7. Have your child place the circle cut-out at the base of her leprechaun's hat. Slide it into place and put a dot of glue to set it. Or, staple it behind the hat to keep it from moving.
8. With the remaining foam circle, have your child draw and cut out a small shamrock. Then, adhere it to the front of the hat.
9. Cut out two small circles of pink foam for the cheeks and glue them in place.
10. Have your child draw the face of their leprechaun, including a smile and eyes.
11. Cut a thin strip of green foam and wrap it around the paper tube from behind to make the leprechaun's arms. Glue them in place at the wrists and cut off the excess.
12. Have your child cut out two small ovals of pink foam for the hands. Adhere them behind the green foam wrists and glue them onto the body.
13. Take one of the pipe cleaners and bend it to create a tight corkscrew.
14. Curve the corkscrew into a "U" shape and cut it down so that you can staple or glue the ends to the hat to give the leprechaun a beard.
15. Using the other pipe cleaner, have your child cut two 2" pieces and bend each one into a small oval shape. Adhere these ovals to the base of the roll to make the leprechaun's shoes.
16. Use a black marker to draw an outfit on your leprechaun.