How to Make an Origami Shamrock Bouquet in a Leprechaun Hat

This is a fun and festive paper craft project for St Patrick’s Day.

The Shamrock bouquet is made from construction paper and pipe cleaners. The Leprechaun Hat is made from construction paper and a cardboard toilet tissue tube.

**Scissors and hot glue aspects of this project require adult supervision**

SUPPLIES

green, black and yellow/gold construction paper
cardboard tp tube
green pipe cleaners (any stiff wire will work to)
glue stick or tape
hot glue gun
scissors
pencil
ruler

INSTRUCTIONS

To Make the Shamrocks:

Cut 10 or more little squares from green construction paper. We used six 1 ½” squares and six 2” squares for our bouquet. You can make them any size you like as long as they are a perfect square. (We made a few shamrocks in a lighter shade of green construction paper to add dimension to the finished bouquet.)
Fold the square crosswise to make a triangle. Crease the edge and fold in half again. Crease the edge and fold in half again.
Cut a rounded end on the triangle. We practiced with scrap paper first until we got it just right and used the best one as a pattern.
For the stems, cut the green pipe cleaners in half and bend a tiny hook in one end, just big enough to hold a dab of hot glue.
Put a dab of hot glue on the little hooked end of the pipe cleaner and attach it to the centre/bottom of the paper shamrock.

To Make the Leprechaun Hat:

**Younger kids will enjoy making the Leprechaun Hat by itself, use white glue in place of the hot glue.**

Cover a toilet paper tube with green construction paper.
Cut a hat band from black construction paper (6” w x 1 ¼” h)
Cut the buckle rectangle from a piece of yellow or gold construction paper (1 ¼” w x 1 ¾” h)
Put 2 slits in the buckle to weave the hat band through. Joint the ends of the hatband together at the back with tape or a glue stick.
Cut a circle for the hat brim from green construction paper (3 ½” diam)
Put a ring of white glue or hot glue around the bottom rim of the toilet paper tube and fasten it in the centre of the hat brim circle. We traced a lid for the circle. (The brim helps keep the shamrock bouquet from tipping over when the shamrocks are placed into it.)
Arrange the Shamrock bouquet in the Leprechaun Hat until they look just the way you like them.