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St. Patrick’s Day Activities You’ll Treasure

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Planning St. Patrick’s Day Activities

In the classroom, planning St. Patrick’s Day activities can be tricky for teachers! We want to feed children’s interest and imaginations, yet we don’t necessarily want to spend all month looking for leprechauns as children gather evidence in the form of lint specs found on the carpet.

Here are some St. Patrick’s Day activities that allow me to embrace the fun and magic of the season, while keeping the leprechaun “fever” in check.

St. Patrick's Day activities in Kindergarten classroom

Morning Meeting

At the beginning of the month, during our morning meeting, I introduce a seasonally-themed attention getter and line-up song that infuse fun and imagination into our daily routines.

St. Patrick's Day transition rhymes
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We also enjoy these St. Patrick’s Day themed Would You Rather? Questions, during our morning meeting share.

 

Discovery Centers

Green and shiny things are added to our Discovery Centers and are available throughout the month of March. Pretend play naturally arises from the children’s work with the materials they find there!

 
St. Patrick's Day Centers - Play dough activity
Play dough with shiny loose parts such as gold floral gems and gold coins

 

St. Patrick's Day Centers - sensory table
St. Patty’s Day themed sensory table
 
 
St. Patrick's Day centers - art fun
shades of green to explore in the Art Center
 

Pots of gold, gold coins and other loose parts for counting, measuring, comparing, and weighing in the math center
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - Shamrocks in the science center
Shamrocks to observe and sketch in the Science Center
 
St. Patrick's Day Makerspace STEM - Leprechaun Traps
Leprechaun Traps in the Makerspace
 

St. Patrick’s Day Math

Pot of Gold Investigations, using mini pots of “gold,” bring some math and science fun and learning to our math block.  These 6 investigations begin with a question to guide each activity and then invite young learners to use simple Guess and Check boxes to make estimations/predictions and record results.
 

The Greedy Leprechaun and The Naughty Leprechaun make their appearance and introduce us to the concept and symbols of addition and subtraction. First through the pages of a math reader…
 
 
…and then through a math mini-unit that includes songs, games, math mats, story problems, number bonds and more.
 
St. Patrick's Day math addition and subtraction activities

Art and Writing

Guided drawings of leprechauns using ArtforKidsHub provide great fine motor practice!  The children add their own details making each one unique!
 
St. Patrick's Day directed drawing and writing activities
 
They also write about what they would do if they caught a leprechaun. 
 
 
St. Patrick's day directed drawing and writing prompt
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Reading

Sight words are practiced using this fun game where children take turns reading a word in hopes of finding the “pot of gold” that is hidden behind one of the cards.
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - sight word game
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St. Patrick’s Day Magic

As the big day draws closer, the magic really begins! With one day to go, we find a poem, some cups, and green and gold markers in our snack basket.  The poem invites us to decorate the “hats” and leave them overnight.
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - Leprechaun hats
Find the poem and directions HERE:
 
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - leprechaun magic hats
 
The next morning, the children are surprised to find these “shrunken hats” sitting atop little bags of “gold.”
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - pots of gold
 
In the afternoon we go hunting for more gold with the 100 Grid Treasure Hunt.  Each gold piece is hidden with a 100 grid number card. As children find each card, they bring it to the 100 chart and place it in the matching pocket.
 
St. Patrick's Day activities - 100 grid treasure hunt
 
 
St. Patrick's Day classroom activities - 100 grid treasure hunt
 
The gold, which is an assortment of pennies, plastic coins, chocolate coins, and candy go into their bags.
 
St. Patrick's Day gold treasure hunt
 

Virtual Leprechaun Hunt

Update: I’ve recently begun to include this Virtual Leprechaun Hunt as part of our St. Patrick’s Day activities. The adventure begins with the principal realizing that he’s been pranked by a leprechaun and wants the kids to help find the “leprechaun on the loose!”  As kids travel to different rooms in the school, they find, not only more pranks, but fun St. Patrick’s Day activities to enjoy. This can be done in-person or using an online meeting platform such as Zoom or Google Meet. 

 

St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Play and Learning 

In the end, rather than stifling their imaginations, I’ve chosen St. Patrick’s Day activities that incorporate the magic of the season into their play and learning. We continue to focus on our learning goals, but use materials that add a little sparkle to our March days. 

 
Thanks for stopping by!
 

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