Festive St. Patrick’s Day Treats to Make With Your Littles

This St. Patrick’s Day, get your kiddos in the kitchen and make festive, fun, and healthy snacks together! Here, I have two of my favorite littles helping me make Rainbow Fruit Skewers, Irish Flag Bites, and Cheesy Shamrocks with Seasoned Greek Yogurt Dip.

St. Patrick’s Day is such a fun holiday for kids.

Wait…let me rephrase that.

St. Patrick’s Day is such a fun holiday for kids of all ages!

Growing up, this Irish holiday was one of my favorites. Whether it be orchestrating elaborate searches for magical four-leaf clovers, convincing myself that I was the descendent of some Gaelic Fairy Goddess, or hunting for leprechaun footprints (to this day I SWEAR I found one!), my imagination was always at its peak this time of year. And today, even as a “bigger kid”, there is no shortage of fun when it comes to March 17th.

In an effort to prove that Big Kids can have just as much fun as the Littles, I invited two of my favorite kiddos, Faye and Gavin, over for an afternoon filled with festive snacks and treasure hunting!

On the menu:

Rainbow Fruit Skewers
Irish Flag Bites
Cheesy Shamrocks with Seasoned Greek Yogurt Dip

The Rainbow Skewers were an absolute hit! Faye and Gavin did such a great job listening to my instructions as I explained that the fruit we were using represents every color that’s in a rainbow:

Red – Strawberries and raspberries
Orange – Mango
Yellow – Pineapple
Green – Green grapes
Blue – Blueberries
Indigo – Blackberries
Violet – Red Grapes

I made one skewer for them to use as a guide as they made their own. They loved picking their favorite fruits to skewer themselves. I hardly had to remind them to use every color of the rainbow!

I think this photo clearly depicts how proud they were of their hard work!

After so much skewering, it was time for a treasure hunt. As they searched for the golden coins that were hidden nearby, I started to prep the Irish Flag Bites.

As you may know, the colors of the Irish flag are green, white, and orange. I prepped thick cucumber slices, cubes of white Irish cheddar, and orange bell pepper slices for us to thread on to little picks.

Once all the golden coins were found, Faye and Gavin hurried back to the kitchen, excited to help with the next snack. They carefully skewered the cucumber, I then skewered the cheddar, and they finished them off with the orange bell pepper slices.

Lastly, we finished the Cheesy Shamrocks with Seasoned Greek Yogurt Dip.

While they had been wrapping up their treasure hunt, I had prepped the “cheesies”, in order for them to cool before we cut out the shamrocks. I topped a spinach tortilla with cheddar cheese, placing another spinach tortilla on top. I allowed them to bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese started to melt.

Once they were thoroughly cooled, Faye and Gavin helped me with cutting out the shamrocks with a cookie cutter. We served them with an incredibly simple seasoned greek yogurt dip that I had made in advance.

St. Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity to invite your kids (or the kids in your life, like I did!) in to the kitchen for some festive fun. Adjust the creations to your and their taste, but be sure to introduce a new flavor or ingredient to keep things fresh (and to encourage trying new things!). You’d be shocked what they’ll try when they have a hand in making it. This was proven when Faye explicitly told me that she, “did NOT like orange peppers”. However, after all the work she put in to making these snacks herself, she tried one – unprompted! Much to her (and our) delight, she said, “Jamie! I tried an orange pepper and I really really liked it!”