Our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft sitting in front of a green and blue background surround by play golden coins.

Make: A Leprechaun Garden for St. Patrick’s Day

Ok, so….this is going to sound a little kooky, but have you ever planted a few old pennies the day before St. Patrick’s day…? Call me crazy, but I kinda enjoy a little good-natured mischief, so instead of trapping leprechauns I try to keep them happy by planting a little something green and giving them a cozy leprechaun garden to move into for the spring. 

Legend has it (at our house at least) that if a leprechaun visits your garden, your pennies will turn to gold and you’ll have good luck the rest of the year!

You can make your own leprechaun garden (or give them as a gift!) with a little potted plant This post was originally created for our friends at hello, Wonderful, and through you can no longer download our free printable set of mini garden accessories there, we’ve made them available for download here on our site!

Rainbows, shamrocks, mushrooms, a garland – even a tiny little leprechaun house! Natural materials from outside like pebbles, sticks, and shells make fantastic additions to your gardens too.

For a different kind of miniature garden experience, try making our mini peace gardens – a calming art activity for kids that helps them learn five simple relaxation techniques. Or for some hands-on play with live plants, visit our collection of over 50 spring gardening activites for kids.

To make your own DIY leprechaun garden you’ll need:

BASIC SUPPLIES:

OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:

  • Toothpicks or popsicle sticks to create stakes for your garden accessories
  • Wooden craft sticks
  • Coins to entice a leprechaun!

DIY Leprechaun Garden Craft Instructions:

  1. Pot a small plant

    You can build your garden anywhere you’d like, but we chose to pot a small green plant. You can add as few or as many pieces to your garden as you want – branches, pebbles, shells and other natural materials also make wonderful garden decor!

  2. Create your leprechaun garden accessories

    You can use our free printable Leprechaun Garden Accessories PDF (print onto heavy cardstock and cut out). OR, you can draw your very own set of accessories.
    Our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft printable accessory sheets sitting on a light blue background.

  3. Prepare your accessories for the garden

    We taped toothpicks to the back of our garden accessories to keep them in place in the dirt. For the little Leprechaun house, fold along all dotted lines, glue on the tabs where indicated, and paste together! If you’d like to make a rainbow ladder, you can cut out the rainbow-colored rungs and glue to sticks, straws or popsicle sticks. To create a garland, cut the garland pieces from the template, fold over a piece of twine, then tie both ends around sticks or straws.
    Our assembled DIY leprechaun garden accessories sitting on a white background.
    If you’re going to use these over and over, you can even laminate your garden accessories for protection from watering and dirt.

  4. Arrange your garden and wait for a lucky leprechaun!

    Setup a cozy little space for one very lucky little leprechaun using the garden accessories you’ve made.
    A close-up of the small house in our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft

Brimming with opportunities for imaginative thought & play, this small world setup is a festive and earth-friendly way to celebrate the holiday.  

These green mini gardens also make an adorable gift for family members or friends and work so well in a classroom setting. Weekly watering is a wonderful nature-based task for kids, and you can move or add things to your garden for an element of surprise!

Our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft sitting in front of a green and blue background surround by play golden coins.

Not a gardener? You can use the mushroom and rainbow shapes as templates to cut your own felt shapes for a bright, spring felt board or to make sweet lucky softies! You can also use the template pieces to make a fun, collaged St. Patrick’s Day greeting card.

Our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft sitting in front of a green and blue background.

Can’t get enough green? Try making this St. Patrick’s Day smoothie – it takes like a tropical vacation, is packed with green healthy goodness, and even has a little rainbow surprise at the bottom! If magic gardens are more your style, you’ll definitely want to add a unicorn garden to your collection.

Our DIY leprechaun garden kids craft sitting in front of a green and blue background surrounded by play golden coins.

If your kids are loving the imaginative play opportunities this little garden home holds, our toadstool gnome home is a great project to check out next. And plan ahead for Easter and spring activities with a visit to our free printable travel tin Peter Rabbit garden!

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Amanda Eldridge
Amanda Eldridge

With a passion for cultivating imagination, Amanda aims to help kids and families discover their creative potential through art, play, adventure, activism, conservancy, and community. Amanda has a background in graphic design, environmental design, and art curation. When not playing with ideas and designs for barley & birch, she enjoys working in freelance design, art, and illustration.

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