St. Patrick's Day Fun!

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

                                                                           

  I know this is close to St. Patrick's Day, but thought I

would post anyway  just in case someone was looking for

some last minute ideas for their preschoolers!

Here we go!

Books

The Luckiest St. Paddy's Day Ever

Ten Lucky Leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day Curious George

The Last Snake in Ireland

Crafts

Torn Paper Rainbows - Let them tear paper and glue into a rainbow (great motor skill)      

Rainbow Hats - Let each child cut one strip of each color of the rainbow.  Measure their head 

and staple a sentence strip into the band for the hat.  Let them color a pot of gold to be attached to the

front of the band.  While they color, you can staple the rainbow onto the front and backside of the band (creating a rainbow over their head. Let them add stickers or decorate their band while you cut out their pot of gold.  These are great to keep and wear if you go on a hunt for gold or for a leprechaun!                                            

Mixing Hands Rainbow - First, have child color their pot of gold to be cut out and attached to the white paper strip.  Next, have a sink or bucket of water ready and some towels.  Paint one hand red and press coming out of the gold.  Then paint their other hand yellow and press that where the third hand print would go.  Have them rub their hands together while saying:

                         Abracadabra, Alakazam......I'm going to find me some gold!

Then watch them be amazed that their hands have turned ORANGE!!!  LOL  They love it. Keep painting their hands and saying the chant until they have their rainbow completed.

                                                                        

Leprechaun Mask/Hat - Give each child a paper hat to color or decorate with shiny paper and whatever they would like.   Then give them a sheet of paper and let them cut little snips that whole way around to make a beard.....you can curl the pieces a bit.  Attach the beard to the hat with an opening for their face.  Attach the entire thing to a headband.  It is fun to take a picture of each student with the mask on and print them out and place on a bulletin board to see if they can guess who is who.                                           

Collage Shamrocks  - Give each child a cut out shamrock shape and place lots of different 

green collage items on the table (such as green foam, glitter, markers, yarn, stickers, tissue paper, etc).  Let them decorate it how they want using all green.  They can add a rainbow if they would like.

                                                                     

Shaving Cream Shamrocks - The picture shows a heart we were doing for valentine's Day, but you can do three hearts and let them glue them into a shamrock.  First put some shaving cream on a plate.  Next squirt green, yellow and blue coloring onto the shaving cream and use a craft stick to pull through the cream to mix the colors a bit.  Then take a heart shape and lightly press on the shaving cream.  Pull it up and then scrape off the excess cream...it will leave the coloring on the paper in a very cool design.  Glue your hearts together onto a sheet of paper and add a stem.

Paint Dotter Rainbows - use paint dotters on half of a paper plate to make a rainbow.

Add the things that you need to make a rainbow - sun and rain.  We added cotton ball clouds. One cotton ball per child was enough......they just pulled them apart into bigger sections.

                                                   

Shamrock Glasses - I had these made ahead of time for the kids to wear.  I used green tag board or cardstock.....folded it in half and cut out a shamrock shape and the ear piece and then unfolded.  The kids really liked them and they held up quite well. (Sorry the pic is blurry, but it is from 18 years ago, scanned and blown up LOL)

                                                                             

Centers & Activities

Matching Leprechauns - I printed out a sheet with two leprechauns and laminated.  Set a pile of numbered shamrocks on one leprechaun's belly and set out a small pot of gold pieces for your child to match the number of gold pieces to the card so they become twin leprechauns.  If the child does not know their numbers yet, they can turn the card over and count the dots on the back of the card.                                                                               

5 Little Leprechauns Flannel Story/Song - I printed out 5 leprechauns and other pictures to go with the song, laminated them and added velcro to the back because I still love flannel boards and think the kids do too!  You can do this activity during circle time and hand out a picture to each student to bring up to the board when it is mentioned and then you can also leave this out as a center for them to retell the story on their own with all the pieces.

                                                                       

Five Green Shamrocks Song - Once again, I printed shamrocks and laminated them and added a craftstick stem.  I had this little pot the I could stick them into, but you can take some green play-doh and put in a cup and that works just as well.  As you sing the song, add a child's name to come pick a shamrock....repeat the song until everyone has had a turn.

                                               

Blarney Stones (One to One) Activity - Use an ice cube tray (I just happened to have a green one - this pic is from our dinosaur week where they used the stones as dino eggs) and green gem stones to have them match one stone per cube space.

                                                          

Patterning, Sorting, and Sand Table - find lots of different green items, poms, shamrocks, gold, etc and these can be used at a center for sorting and patterning or in the sand table or sensory bin.  Children love to look for treasures as much as the leprechauns do!

                                                                     

Hot Potato - We use either a little leprechaun troll, a gold egg or even a piece of gold and play some Irish music while passing the object around.  The last child holding the treasure, is The Lucky Leprechaun!!                                                

Leprechaun Hat Game - This pic is from about 18 years ago of my son and the day care kids during our St. Patrick's Day party :)  I just used an empty oatmeal container and wrapped with paper and a green piece of poster board for the bottom.  They were on teams and had to stand back all around the hat.  Each team had different colored gold pieces (gold, green and purple)  They all threw their coins one at a time till all coins were thrown and then we tallied up each color.

                                                                            

Magic Magnets - if you can find some magnets for St. Patrick's Day.....these are great to make up songs with or let the children each make up a story during circle time.

                                                                

Songs

Snacks

( I think both of these were from Family Fun 2007)

You can also make rice crispy treats with Fruity Pebbles or Lucky Charms

You can search for the recipe to make the layered Rainbow Cake/cupcakes.

Hope this gives you lots of ideas to have a 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

You can also make the hat at the very beginning, using an empty

popcorn tin and shiny wrapping paper with a piece of

cardboard for the brim.  

Fill it with green necklaces, treat....such as those listed above or 

you can add Rolos (gold), ring pops, etc!

Leave a note from a leprechaun that snuck into your house or room

during the night and left a surprise for you to find.  Go on a hunt 

and find the hat with treasures and maybe a treat to eat for snack 

time!  So much fun to be had!

May the luck of the Irish...Always be with YOU!!