St Patricks Day Parade Coloring Page

The whole town has come out for this st patricks day parade coloring page. Three kids march down the main street: a girl with braids waves a pennant, a boy in a tall green hat carries a huge drum with a shamrock on it, and a girl with two round puffs plays a flute. A puppy trots along at their feet.

Behind them, eight neighbors wave from behind a rope, and some of them have hats of their own. The shop row has a bakery, a bookstore, a cafe and a toy store, each with a striped awning. A wide banner hangs high over the street above a string of little flags.

Plenty to look at

This is a detailed page. There are windows, awnings, hats and faces all over the sheet, and the best age range is 7 to 12. Allow 40 minutes, or spread it out over a few sittings. Younger children can color just the three marchers and leave the town as it is.

St patricks day parade coloring page color ideas

The parade should pop, and the town should sit back a little. Use soft pastel colors on the shops, such as pale pink, mint and lavender. Then save your strongest greens and oranges for the kids up front.

Green, white and orange are the colors of the Irish flag, so they make a natural set for the pennants above the street. Repeat them in order along the row. The awnings can each match their shop.

• Drum: red rim, white face and a bright green shamrock
• Banner: deep green with white or gold letters
• Crowd: mix up the hair and shirts so it looks like real people
• Street: light cream or pale gray

Tips for busy pages

Work from the back to the front. Start with the shops and the sky, then the crowd, then the marchers. Your child will get the most fun at the end, and the bright colors won't get smudged.

The little faces in the crowd are small, so use a sharp pencil on them. If a child finds that tiring, color only the shirts and hats and call it done.

Have a green check before you begin. Scribble each of your greens on a scrap sheet and pick three that look good side by side. A box of 24 crayons usually has more greens than kids expect.

A holiday with a long history

Saint Patrick's Day is held on March 17, the traditional date of his death. Parades, music and green clothing are all part of how people mark it. Here's a surprise for kids: the parade habit is older in North America than in Ireland itself. The first one in Ireland took place in Waterford in 1903, and the first official parade in Dublin was in 1931. Since 2010, more than 300 famous landmarks around the globe have been lit up in green for the day. You can read about it on the Saint Patrick's Day page.

Hold a parade of your own

All you need is a hallway and something to bang. Make a drum from an empty oatmeal box, a flag from a paper napkin and a hat from green card. Your child can lead the family around the living room at breakfast on March 17.

Teachers can turn this sheet into a story starter. Ask each student to pick one person in the crowd and write what that person is shouting. Then hang the pages in a long line down the hallway so that the parade seems to march past the classroom doors.

You can also play I Spy. Find a hat with a buckle. Find a shop that sells books. Find three shamrocks on the street.

More to color this March

Bring the star of the show home with the shamrock coloring page. If your child liked the marching band, the pot of gold coloring page is a simple and cheerful next step.

Questions