Welp- I accidentally got my dates mixed up and should have done these St. Patrick’s Day activities LAST week so you guys could do them on the week of St. Patty’s Day (usually I do holiday activities with my littles a week earlier than the actual holiday so the plans are available to you all on time!) I apologize- maybe this week can just be your spring break! LoL Or you can still do them, just a week late- I’m sure your little will still enjoy learning about Ireland and wee leprechauns! Anyway, don’t forget to cross the rainbow to my toddler post “Wee Leprechauns” for more St. Patrick’s Day fun like going on a leprechaun hunt, a pipe cleaner rainbow craft and a cute leprechaun handprint painting!
–Literacy:
-St. Patrick’s Day themed letter hunt: I printed these St. Patrick’s Day themed letter hunt cards from Teachers Pay Teachers, cut them out, then sorted the letters my little is still working on from the ones he already knows. I had him use a hole punch to mark the capital version of each letter on each card- for example, the letter T card had t’s and T’s all around the edge so he found all the capital T’s. His hand did end up getting tired from the hole punch, so we switched to a green do-a-dot marker at that point. As he punched I also had him say the letter’s name.
-St. Patrick’s Day spelling practice: A fun way for older preschoolers to practice letter and sound recognition is by having them spell words. For this activity, I gave my little the words leprechaun, clover, shamrock, green, St. Patrick, rainbow and pot of gold (one at a time) and we went over each letter in turn by saying it’s sound then identifying the letter. Then I had my little find the letter in a pile of ABC magnets to spell out the word. I got my inspiration from Preschool-Play.
-Shamrock letter match: I printed this shamrock letter match page from I Heart Crafty Things, wrote the coordinating letters on green dot stickers, then had my little identify each letter, find it on the shamrock, and stick the sticker to the matching letter.
-Gold coin letter match: Either cut some gold circles using your Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine or buy some plastic coins at The Dollar Tree (you’ll need 52). Write the capital and lowercase letters- one on each coin. Place the capitals right side up and the lowercase upside down. Have your little flip over one lowercase at a time, name it, and match it to the capital version.
-P is for pot of gold: I made a P practice page by writing them with dots then leaving some spaces for my little to try them on his own. We also talked about P during calendar time each morning. If your little already knows letter P you could do L is for leprechaun or S is for St. Patrick’s Day instead!
-St. Patrick’s Day book list: Here are some fun St. Patrick’s Day themed books we read this week!
–Math:
-Leprechaun hunt with gold coin counting: On the night before St. Patrick’s Day we set up our leprechaun trap from the science STEM activity below. While the littles were sleeping, I…I MEAN the leprechauns…threw gold coins in the grass all around the trap. The next morning I had my littles check the trap and collect the coins in mini cauldrons (all these things are available at The Dollar Tree around St. Patty’s Day each year). Then I had my preschooler count the coins he had collected.
-Lucky Charm graphing: What’s St. Patrick’s Day without Lucky Charms, am I right?! We don’t eat “junk cereal” for breakfast at our house often- usually I put it in the little’s eggs on Easter morning (because you know they’re going to eat whatever is inside right away and at least it’s healthier than a million jelly beans first thing in the morning! LoL) and of course, we have Lucky Charms on St. Patrick’s Day…so naturally I had to also do a Lucky Charm graph this week. I printed the graphing portion of this Lucky Charm math pack I found at Teachers Pay Teachers and we used it as a guide to make our graph. I really like how it also included practicing tally marks as we counted the marshmallows and had questions about the tallies and graph. You could really stretch it over a few days, but we did it all in one! (We skipped a few of the questions because they were a bit above the preschool thinking level in my opinion, but that’s ok! It is from a 1st/2nd grade packet after all!)
-Shamrock number book: Make a small book by stapling 3 half sheets of paper folded in half together and writing a number 1-10 at the bottom of each page. Then have your little identify each number and count it out while sticking that amount of shamrock stickers on the page.
-Shamrock number match: I printed this shamrock number match page from I Heart Crafty Things, wrote the numbers 1-20 on green dot stickers, then had my little match the correct number sticker to the number on the shamrock. I had him do the numbers in order (and also wrote them in order) so that he would have an easier time keeping track of the higher numbers. The numbers are scrambled up on the page, so it was still a challenge for him to find them.
–Science:
-STEM design a leprechaun trap: Honestly, I never really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day until I became a teacher. My pod mates had so many fun ideas for the kids (like putting green food coloring in the toilet during specials for “Leprechaun pee” which all the 2nd graders found supremely gross and hilarious!), so obviously I jumped on board! This was one of them and it’s actually a fun STEM activity if you think about it. You just give your little a bunch of household items or recyclables and ask them to make a leprechaun trap- it has to lure the leprechaun in then somehow trap him inside. Then on St. Patty’s Day eve you have them set the trap up, and after they’re in bed you spring it (if it can be sprung…lol They are only preschoolers after all) and sprinkle Leprechaun treasure (ie. plastic coins, shamrock necklaces, tiny hats- all found at The Dollar Tree) all around it for them to find in the morning.
-Sink the pot with “gold”: Fill up a sink (or medium Tupperware container) with water. Give your little a small cauldron and have them estimate how many pennies it will take to sink it. Then have them count the pennies they put in the pot until it’s sunk! I got this idea from Little Bins for Little Hands.
-Irish soda bread: Baking is definitely science, am I right? Ok then! For St. Patrick’s Day dinner I had my preschooler help me make Irish soda bread. I got the super simple recipe from Let’s Dish and it consisted of 4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and 1 3/4 cups buttermilk (or whole milk). You have your little carefully pour the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them well. Then add the milk and stir until you have a dough ball. Kneed the dough on the counter a few times until it’s well mixed, then press it into a greased round baking pan. Cut an X into the dough and place another pan on top and bake at 425 for 25 minutes then uncover it and bake another 10 minutes. Have your little make observations about the dough before it cooks and after as well. Discuss how heat can chemically change food- which means it changes it so that it becomes completely different and can’t ever be changed back (unlike a physical change which just changes the shape of something or how it looks, even though the thing remains the same- like ripping paper…it looks different but it’s still paper)
-Shamrock hunt: We went outside to search for shamrocks- aka clovers- and had great success finding some growing in a plant pot in our yard! We pulled one out and used it to review the parts of a plant- roots, stem, leaves and flower (we surprisingly found some that were flowering this time of year- but then we do live in the south!) We also tried to find a 4 leaf clover, but were a bit less successful at that endeavor!
–Art:
-Cut and glue 4 leaf clover craft: I drew 4 hearts and a stem shape on a piece of green paper then had my little carefully cut each one out and glue them- points of the hearts touching- to a sheet of gold paper to make a 4 leaf clover! A 3 leaf clover may have come out looking a bit less crowded, but oh well! LoL
-Shamrock marshmallow painting: Give your little a large marshmallow, some green paint and cardstock. Show them how to use the marshmallow to stamp a 3 or 4 leaf clover on the page. Then let them try! (We also used a paintbrush to add a stem) I got this idea from Pinterest.
–Supply/shopping list:
- plastic “gold” coins or gold glittery cardstock
- ABC magnets
- green dot stickers
- shamrock stickers
- random recyclables
- milk
- pipette
- food coloring
- small cauldron style “pot”
- pennies
- large marshmallows
- Lucky Charms
- hole punch and/or green do-a-dot marker
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