St Patrick’s Day is right around the corner! Will one of those naughty little leprechauns be visiting your classroom? Get a wee bit of a headstart and begin planning now with these St Patrick’s Day Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade. You’re sure to find something to put a little twinkle in the eyes of your students!
St Patrick’s Day Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
St Patrick’s Day is one of those fun holidays that you can easily incorporate into your learning curriculum. And don’t we all really need more fun?!?
- Prior to the day, send a quick little note home, or have a mention in your newsletter, and have all your students wear something green. Easy. Could be something as simple as one green sock, a green bandaid, a green ponytail holder, one fingernail painted green, or a green heart or shamrock on their hand or face with a washable marker. And for those who come without, have green stickers so they don’t feel left out because you don’t want anyone getting pinched for not having on green. 😉
- If you want to go all out, you can have the naughty leprechaun visit your classroom the night before and leave all kinds of mess for your students to find when they arrive on St Patrick’s Day. Evidence he’s been there will be his teeny, tiny footprints made by using the side of your hand when fisted and put into washable paint, then add tiny toe prints. Google it for more details. I think he also inadvertently sometimes leaves some of his gold (chocolate gold coins) and a note. I’m not sure about the gold, but it sounds like a good idea. I’ve never actually done this in my classroom, just thought it was a really cute idea.
- Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute is a great read-aloud to start the day off. It’s full of Irish vernacular, so be prepared to stop and explain. Your students will love listening to the story and it does a wonderful job of sharing the leprechaun folklore. There are even Source Notes in the back of the book that shares more folklore history. Do be warned, in the book the leprechaun has a “big gallon pitcher” … “a crock”. He’s out in a field working making shoes and he dips his mug into the crock. I don’t know that I ever noticed when I was reading to my class that it was a pitcher of beer. It never says that and my kids didn’t know or notice. The only reason you’d know is that there’s some foam on top. It doesn’t look like a pitcher of beer. It looks like a pitcher you’d put milk or flowers in. So if you think that would be an issue, be forewarned.
- Shamrocks are perfect for teaching symmetry. Give your students half a shamrock and have them draw the other symmetrical half. Or, you can put half a shamrock tracer into a Math Center. Have them trace half the shamrock onto construction paper, flip it over horizontally and then draw the other symmetrical half. Then they can paint, color, or decorate the shamrock.
- Use an Ellison machine to cut out hearts to create this quilt square. Students create their own stem and put it all together as a Center project. Put all the squares together to form a “quilt” and display on the wall.
- My kids loved play dough. Maybe it was something they didn’t have at home. Even homes that can afford it most often don’t have it because it makes a mess. 😀 So here’s some things you can do with play dough. I was always buying themed cookie cutters to use with the play dough. These shamrock cookie cutters were great for sequencing. You could use them for patterning, or you could have students cut out the shamrocks then stamp out spelling words or their names using play dough stamps. If you don’t have play dough letter and number stamps you should get those if you use play dough. Ours came from Lakeshore, but you can get some on Amazon. I would recommend getting the ones that are solid, not cutouts. And make sure the solid ones are thick enough to make a good impression. Some don’t look to be of good quality and the letters don’t look well-formed.
- When I was teaching part-time, I did a weekly simple craft project to go along with whatever I was teaching. That was far, far more than when I was teaching full time, but different strokes for different folks. So now I’m far more in-tune to supplying craft projects for teachers … mostly through pinning on Pinterest. Not only did the craft projects serve as motivators to complete work and modify behavior, but also as practice in using fine motor skills, coloring, cutting, gluing, following directions, stamina, and vocabulary development. So here’s a simple free craft project for download. Use bingo stampers to create the rainbow, or it could be colored or painted. Once the rainbow is completed, color the rest of the picture and add cotton to the cloud for dimension.
This really needs to be printed on thicker paper to keep it as flat as possible. I included a copy of the page with guidelines on the rainbow for those who need them and a page without the guidelines for those who want to be more creative. Students could also draw a leprechaun in the white space or write a poem or quote.
There are also several writing pages and writing prompts to go along with it to incorporate a writing component.
Rainbow Craft FREEBIE Download
Ready to Go St Patrick’s Day Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
- St Patrick’s Day Letters and Sounds Bingo – Just like play dough, the kids love to play bingo! They ask to play, so how can learning be any more fun? 🙂 Kids love games! So wonderful that they’re learning letters and sounds, vocabulary, how to listen, pay attention, stamina, how to win, lose, and how to play a game all at the same time. Use the calling cards as extension activities and have students match letters to sounds, sequence letters, or print the cards twice for a memory game.
PURCHASE St Patrick’s Day Letters and Sounds Bingo
- St Patrick’s Day Numbers 0 – 20 Bingo – Not only can you use this activity to play bingo, but you can print the calling cards twice to play memory or use the cards for sequencing numbers, flashcards, or use them as number cards and have students count manipulatives to match. Perfect activity for a St Patrick’s Day party!
PURCHASE St Patrick’s Day Numbers 0 – 20 Bingo
- All Things Green Emergent Reader – St Patrick’s Day is all about the color green, so although All Things Green is not specifically for St Patrick’s Day, it lends itself well to the theme.
PURCHASE All Things Green Emergent Reader
- St Patrick’s Day First 25 Sight Words Bingo – The perfect sight words bingo game for your students who are just learning their sight words. It uses only those first 25 most frequently used sight words. For those students who are still struggling with some of the words, show them the word cards and as you tell them words and let them find them on the card. This reinforces the word, gives practice in visual discrimination as they search for the word, and it allows them to continue playing the game with success and keeps frustration to a minimum.
PURCHASE St Patrick’s Day First 25 Sight Words Bingo
- St Patrick’s Day ABC Bingo for Google Slides – If you have Chromebooks for your classroom or you’re virtual, this is a fun alphabet game for Google Slides. Perfect for the class or Literacy Centers.
PURCHASE St Patrick’s Day ABC Bingo for Google Slides
- St Patrick’s Day First 25 Sight Word Bingo for Google Slides – This is a great game for emerging readers just starting on their sight words journey. Uses only the first 25 most frequently used sight words.
PURCHASE St Patrick’s Day First 25 Sight Word Bingo for Google Slides
More Resources You Might Like:
Spring Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade using Google Slides
Easter ABC Bingo for Google Slides
Peter and the Garden Emergent Reader
Spring Splash Sight Words Bingo
Creepy Crawly Bugs Learning Activities
If you’ve had a naughty elf visit your class or you have some favorite fun St Patrick’s Day activities, let me know in the comments section below.
I hope you found some St Patrick’s Day activities that will make your kindergarten and first graders happy!
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