St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, a country known for shamrocks, leprechauns and lucky charms. People celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 17th March, by wearing green clothes, and pinning a shamrock to their outfit. A shamrock is the Irish name for clover, and it’s always been considered lucky to find one with four leaves instead of the usual three!
This year, I’m going to show you how to make your own lucky shamrock charm to wear on St Patrick’s Day, or to give to someone you love!
The word ‘charm’ comes from the French ‘charme’, which means song. Here is an ancient charm poem from Ireland that explains why a four-leaved shamrock is so lucky:
One leaf is for fame,
And one leaf is for wealth,
And one is for a faithful love,
And one to bring you glorious health.
How to Make Your Own
You will need:
- Green paper
- Scissors
- Green markers or crayons
- A paper clip
- A piece of sticky-tape
- A notebook and pen for planning your charm
Your lucky shamrock can be as big or as small as you like, but you will need to write a line of your charm poem on each of the leaves, so it is best to plan the poem first so you can cut your leaves to fit.
Think of four areas in your life where you’d like a bit of luck. Write these down in your notebook. Try and make two of them rhyme if you can! (For example, if one item on your list is ‘friends’, and one is ‘cake’, your could turn them into ‘friends’ and ‘cake that never ends’; or ‘cake’ and ‘lots of new friends to make’!)
Now write four lines that each begin ‘One leaf is for…’ Fill in the blank with the items from your list – lines two and four should be your rhymes – and you’ll end up with something like:
One leaf is for good grades
One leaf is for soccer
One leaf is for my brother
One leaf is for my smelly locker
This is your lucky charm poem! The next step, is to turn it into a shamrock.
On your green paper, draw four teardrop shapes. They should all be the same size, and must be big enough to fit one line of your poem on each. Cut them out, and use a green marker or crayon to write a different line from your poem onto each leaf. Cut a strip of the left-over green paper to use as your shamrock’s stem.
Layout the leaf shapes on the table so that all the pointy ends overlap. This should make your four-leafed clover shape. Lay the paper stem over the top, and use the paper clip to push a hole through all five layers of paper. Turn the paper over, and unfold the legs of the brad so they are pointing in different directions – now it will hold all the pieces together! Use your piece of sticky tape over the top to make sure the leaves all stay in place.
Now you have your own lucky charm shamrock to wear on St Patrick’s Day – you can decide if you want people to see the words you have written, or if you want to turn it around and keep them hidden so only you know what they say!
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
