St. Patrick's Day and The Trinity

Growing up with a rich Irish heritage, St. Patrick’s Day has always been a big deal to me. We celebrated as a family with an Irish meal and adorned our clothing and home with green everywhere. I celebrated the holiday with pride and would tell everyone I knew about my family’s ancestors, their origins and what they did in Ireland.

I’ve continued to make it a big deal – first as a teacher in my music classroom with Irish music and dancing, and now as a mom, passing down this family legacy to my own children.

It’s been very important to me and my husband that we keep our celebrations and holidays centered around Christ, and one way we’ve done that with our children is by sharing the story of St. Patrick. I am an evangelical Christian, but I still enjoy celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and this year, I thought of a fun activity that ties together a very Irish symbol – the shamrock – with the Trinity.

The Trinity isn’t the easiest thing for us as adults to understand at times, but explaining it to a child? Well, that seems like an insurmountable task. The main thing I want my children to understand is that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not separate and they are all equally important. So here’s how we tackled that with a fun, easy Irish- themed craft:

The Shamrock & The Trinity: An Object Lesson for St. Patrick’s Day

All you need are watercolors and a blank piece of cardstock (just green paint to keep it simple).

We started with one green heart. This heart represents God, the Father.

The next heart, touching the first and pointing to the side, represents Jesus, the Son.

And the last heart, facing the other way, represents the Holy Spirit.

With each heart touching in the middle, kids can see that there are three distinct parts, but they are all one leaf. To tie it all together, we added a line for a stem, representing that these three parts are ONE.

This lesson is so simple, but that’s exactly how it should be for young children! And now my children can be reminded of the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit every time they see a shamrock!

It’s important to remind our kids that even though they may be small (like the shamrock), they can do mighty things. Another resource we love that helps us remind our boys of that very concept is The Blessings Jar. It’s a beautiful book that encourages kids to look for God’s blessings in even the smallest while also reminding them that they, too, can be a blessing.

This St. Patrick’s Day, I pray that you and your little ones will look for (and find) many of God’s blessings sprinkled throughout your day!

Your Turn

How have you taught your children about the Trinity? Do you use the illustration of the apple or any other tools to help them visualize it? We’d love to hear your ideas!