Mini St. Patrick's Day Pot O' Gold Candy Holders

Make mini St. Patrick's Day "pots o' gold" to hold candy for children during a party or school lesson. These are easy to make and cheap.

This can be used as a holiday craft activity for children to make during school, church, child care or home school lessons. Or make the pots ahead of time and give them out during a St. Patrick's Day party at your child's school or at home.

Use black paint to completely cover a small yogurt container. Paint the inside and outside. Small cottage cheese, sour cream, jell-o or pudding cups work well for the St. Patrick's Day pot too. Use two coats of black paint to be sure none of the white plastic shows through.

Next, use a hole punch to make a hole near the top on either side of the Irish black pot. Be careful not to split the plastic. Thread the end of a black or gold pipe cleaner through one hole and twist the end up to secure. Finish the other side. Now the St. Patrick's Day pot has a handle.

Fill the black Irish pot with "gold" candy. Yellow M&Ms, wrapped butterscotch candies, yellow Starburst, or gold-foil wrapped chocolate coins make great "gold" candy.

Use a gold or silver paint pen to write each child's name on their St. Patrick's Day pot of gold.

For more St. Patrick's Day fun, let the kids dress up as leprechauns, with green clothes and craft hats. Then hide everyone's Irish pots in the house or around the school. Make up scavenger hunt questions for each child leprechaun to follow so they can hunt for their own hidden pot of Irish gold. If you are a teacher, you can make the questions match whatever content you are studying in class.

Instead of a scavenger hunt, let one child leprechaun at a time take his or her turn hiding the pot of gold. After he has hidden his Irish pot of gold, let the other children hunt for it playing "Hot and Cold" or a similar game of hide and seek. Whomever finds the leprechaun's gold gets to eat it.

For a more healthy St. Patrick's Day treat, fill each Irish pot with "gold" fruit instead of candy. Sliced starfruit, tangerine slices, mandarin oranges, golden raspberries, yellow cherries, and kumquats are excellent choices of small fruits that have a golden color. Place one or a variety of these fruits in the St. Patrick's Day pots and sit them beside each place setting during dinner or lunch. Your kids or students can enjoy their special, healthy, St. Patrick's day dessert.