I love all of the bright fresh colors of spring and this shamrock art is just the thing to put you in a spring mood. The perfect St. Patrick’s Day art project that is easy enough for even younger kids to do without much assistance. This is also a great project to talk about positive and negative space!
Chalk pastels are so fun for kids to explore, and with some simple techniques, you can get some pretty cool results. I love how this smudging method looks, especially on black paper which makes the pastels extra bright, they almost look like they are glowing!
For this project, I created a shamrock template to make this craft even easier for you. This template is available to my email subscribers as part of my free printable resource library. Sign up to my email list below to gain instant access.
After confirming your email subscription you will receive a welcome email with all of the sign in details. Scroll down to the bottom to sign up.
Create your own shamrock art with chalk pastels
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Supplies
- Shamrock printable (scroll to bottom of post)
- White cardstock
- Black pastel paper or black construction paper (I cut ours to 8.5 x 11 inches)
- Chalk pastels
- Q-tips or pastel blending stick (optional)
- Spray fixative (optional)
Instructions
1. First, print out your shamrock template (scroll down to get your template). I found that using cardstock makes the template easier for kids to use. Cut out the shamrock, younger kids will need help with this step.
2. Get your black pastel paper or construction paper and chalk pastels ready. We used pastel paper for this project (cut to 8.5 x 11 inches), but construction paper would also work since it has a bit of a texture to it.
Related: Easy Rainbow Shamrock Craft with Oil Pastels
My daughter planned out her colors first to make sure she had enough to go around the shamrock. She did a rainbow shamrock and I did one using different shades of green and yellow. Both look great!
3. Place your shamrock in the middle of your black paper and using one color at a time, color around the edge of the shamrock. You want each color to be quite thick like in the photo above, this will make the next step a lot easier and give more of a dramatic effect to the finished project.
4. Once you are done tracing, using a pastel smudge tool, a q-tip or your fingers (my favorite method!) smudge the pastels outward away from your shamrock. Remind kids to go slow and smudge right to the edges of their paper.
Lift the template off to reveal your gorgeous shamrock art!
You can choose to spray the artwork with a workable fixative to preserve and keep the pastels from smudging (this is completely optional). This step should only be done by an adult, outside in a well-ventilated area.
This was such a fun St. Patrick’s Day project. I love that you only need a couple of simple supplies to create this shamrock art. The black paper really makes the chalk pastels extra bright and gives more of a dramatic effect.
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If you liked this art project you will love
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I love this art
Thank you Debbie!
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing!!!!
I am unable to acess the printables.
Sent you an email Stacy 🙂
Is a m looking forward to the art projects!!!
I subscribed to your nesletter confirmed through my email and was not able to view the free prints. Says to enter a password. I never got one
Hi Izabela,
I just send you an email with all of the printable details. 🙂
HI,
I seem to be experiencing the same problem.
Kind regards
Kitt
Hi Kitt,
I sent you an email 🙂
Great idea, except for the fact that this is not a shamrock! A shamrock has 3 sections not 4. This is a four leaf clover, which has nothing to do with St. Patrick.
Hi Gill,
Yes, I have since learned the difference between a four leaf clover and a shamrock. 🙂
Look and thanks for all the ideas for my grsndchildren
Hi, I too am having a problem accessing printables.
I sent you an email Amanda 🙂
I am also having trouble assessing printables
Thanks
Hi Donna,
I sent you an email as well. 🙂
I signed up so I could get the shamrock printable and followed the directions to go to the library and couldn’t get the shamrock. Can you please send it to me?
Hi Megan,
I sent you an email with all of the details. 🙂
Hello – I am having the same problem as everyone else. I have signed up but am unable to access the Free Printable.
Love this!! I am having the same problem as others. I subscribed for the newsletter, but never got access to the free printable.
Hi Lety,
I sent you an email. 🙂
I sent you an email Amanda. 🙂
I would like to get a printable copy of the shamrock. I did not receive a password.
Thx.
Hi Debra,
Sent you an email with all the details.
Hi Debra,
I sent you an email.
Hi,
I’m having the same problem. I signed up but didn’t receive access. Thanks
Hi Sarah,
I sent you an email. 🙂
hello, this is an amazing idea! i love it! can you also send me the printable copy of the clover?
Hi Rosa,
Sent you an email with all the details.
Can you send me the free printable shamrock please?. Thanks in advance
Hi Michelle,
I sent you an email. 🙂
Hey! I signed up and still haven’t received my free shamrock.
Sent you an email Ashley. 🙂
I signed up and could not get access to the printable???
Hi Alexis,
I sent you an email.
I am having trouble getting the printable shamrock. Is there a way you could e-mail this to me, like you did to some of the others?
Hi Nicole,
I sent you an email with the details.
I signed up but I can´t get the printable. Can you do something?
I sent you an email with the details.
Could you use regular chalk for this project? I am doing an at project with 30 kids and thought this would be perfect, but I don’t want to have to buy that many sets of pastels.
Hi Hilary,
It’s certainly worth a try! I would do a sample first to see how it looks. Depending on the type of chalk you use it might not be as bright or it might not smudge as much.
Hi,
I am unable to access the printable as well. I am subscribed to the email list. Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Andrea,
I sent you an email. 🙂