How to Draw a Leprechaun: March Artwork for the Classroom – Proud to be Primary

Here is a directed drawing for St. Patrick’s Day that will teach your students how to draw a leprechaun. It is sure to excite and entertain kids during your March festivities.

How to Draw a Leprechaun

Materials

This directed drawing activity teaches children how to draw a leprechaun. As we know, drawing is important in the classroom for many reasons, one of them being that it boosts students’ memory. It can be adapted for any primary classroom or completed at home with a few simple materials. The fun, interesting results can be used to decorate your classroom walls and would be a great companion to your writing activities.

You will need:

• white art paper
• a pencil
• an eraser
• a fine-black marker or Sharpie pen
• watercolor paints and larger paintbrush (or your coloring materials of choice)

I recommend proper paper meant for painting because it can handle the water and shouldn’t tear the paper if used properly.

Tips for How to Draw a Leprechaun

When teaching students how to draw a leprechaun, I recommend…

• stand front and center in front of your groups
• use a large easel, chart paper, or overhead to draw on
• Kids can sit at tables with their supplies.
• take things slow and draw each step as you give verbal instructions
• give students plenty of time to follow along and ask questions

You will have the most success if you model the lesson this way and take your time.

Directions for How to Draw a Leprechaun: Directed Drawing

Below are the steps for the leprechaun directed drawing art lesson. There are FREE printable directions available at the end of the post.

1. Place a large white piece of paper in landscape orientation. For the hat, start with two short lines down from the top of the page, leaving even amounts on both sides. Draw a rectangular shape connected to the end of the other two lines.

2. For the head, draw a circular shape under the hat. Emphasize not to draw the hat and head too big and keep it in the upper part of the page. Add two small ears outside of the head.

3. For the beard, draw curved lines along the bottom of the head under the ears. Add two curved lines inside the head at the top to make hair.

4. For the body, draw two curved lines down from under the chin. Make sure to leave room for the legs underneath. Connect the two lines in the center like you are drawing an upside-down heart.

5. For the legs and shoes, draw a straight line down from the center part where the body connects. Draw two more consecutive lines down, but not all the way, to make the legs. Draw two curved lines out from the center line and connect with the bottom of the page for shoes.

6. For the face, draw two small round eyes. Draw two more circles inside the eyes attached to the inner corners. Color them in leaving a little white space uncolored. Draw a tiny circle for the nose. Create a smirk smile by drawing a curved line to the side. Draw 2 thin ovals above the eyes under the hat for eyebrows.

7. For the arms, draw two sets of arms going out from each side of the body. Add a cuff to the end of the lines and two more sets of curved lines for hands. You can get creative here and have the leprechaun hold a gold coin or shamrock if you wish.

8. For the shamrock in the center of the body, tell kids to start with a heart shape leaving an open form at the bottom. Get them to turn the page both ways and draw another heart shape, making three heart shapes connected. Add a stem.

9. Add extra details. For the hat, draw a square in the center and another smaller square inside that. Draw two sets of lines going out from the inner squares.

10. Give the leprechaun a belt by drawing two lines across the center of the body. Remember to go under the shamrock, not over it!

11. For the legs, draw two lines going across on each to give his pants a pattern.

12. For the shoes, add a square and another inner square on each to make a buckle.

Leprechaun Directed Drawing – Finishing Touches

Complete the activity over two days or periods. On day one, we complete the drawing and the tracing with a black marker. Use a fine point black marker or Sharpie pen to trace all the lines of the leprechaun. Erase the pencil lines with a good white eraser.

One day two we paint. If your class hasn’t used watercolor paints before, you should demonstrate how to make proper brush strokes with a paintbrush and the water to paint ratio. I usually use larger paintbrushes instead of the small ones that are typically included with watercolor paint sets.

• Use watercolor paints to paint the smaller details of the leprechaun first.
• Use different shapes of green paint, as well as orange and yellow.
• Next, paint the larger areas of the leprechaun.

It is up to you if you wish to leave him on white paper or paint the background. Painting a rainbow is fun and colorful! You could also cut out the leprechaun and glue onto construction or other special paper.

Once everyone completes their leprechaun, place them somewhere to dry completely. Don’t make the mistake of hanging them or putting them upright. Paint and water would drip down onto the pictures. Once dry, hang them up or create a fun bulletin board display for March.

How to Draw a Leprechaun

Free Printable Instructions

You can download and print the instructions for the leprechaun directed drawing for St. Patrick’s Day by clicking the image below.

Free St. Patrick’s Day Poem & Activities

Grab a free St. Patrick’s Day poem and activities to go along with the Leprechaun directed drawing. Click the image below for your copy!

Directed Drawing Mats

Add directed drawings to your weekly lesson plans to help children follow directions and build drawing skills. There are five different directed drawings included each month of Drawing Mats!

Are you looking for more directed drawing resources?

The ultimate guide to teaching directed drawing in the classroom. Directed drawing art activities help kids produce masterpieces and build confidence. This guide provides a listing of directed drawing resources, suggested materials, and FREE step by step tutorials. Click HERE to check it out!

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