St. Patrick's Day, like many holidays, began as a religious holy day. It commemorates St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, who died on March 17th, 461 A.D. Now it is a secular holiday, where people wear green, watch parades and drink beer. Decide what you'd like the day to mean to your child, and plan your activities accordingly. Scholastically, St. Patrick's Day is a good time to teach or review the number 3, the color green, the letter P for Patrick or the letter L for leprechaun. If you want to extend the activities over a week, incorporate St. Patrick's Day into a unit on Spring.
Great Picture Books for St. Patrick's Day
- St. Patrick's Day Alphabet by Beverly Vidrine
- St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons
- Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola
- Jack and the Leprechaun by Ivan Robertson
These four books combine a lot of information with beautiful illustrations into engaging stories for preschoolers. All have been awarded "five stars" by the parents who have bought them in the past. Check out their reviews at Amazon.com. It may be hard to find these books in the library, unless you reserve them in advance.
Clothing Color Match
Talk to your child about the color green. Show him something green and ask him to find other things of that color. Help him to look through his closet for a green tee shirt or sweatshirt, green socks, sweaters, jeans, or whatever he might own. Help him to dress in something green for St. Patrick's Day.
Explain that St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland,and Ireland is called the "emerald isle." Emerald is a bright green color. That is why we wear green on St. Patrick's Day. If you are teaching a group of preschoolers, you could have them color a green badge to tape to their shirts for the day. For a good matching game, dump a pile of colored socks on a table, and encourage the children to find the mates.
Green Sensory Play
Fill your sensory table or a large, plastic bin, with dry instant mashed potato flakes. Put green colored toys in the white flakes for scooping and playing, like green plastic shovels, green trucks, green funnels or spoons or dishes. Let your child play with the dry flakes for several days. Then on the last day of your St. Patrick's Day unit, squirt green food coloring into very warm water, and pour it over the potato flakes. You and your child can smoosh the water into the flakes. Take time to enjoy the sensations. How does it feel? How does it smell?
If your child hasn't gotten the flakes too dirty in the last few days, perhaps you would let him taste it. Notice how it looks, as water changes it from a dry to a wet mush, and as it turns from white to green. Today, when your child is done playing in it, throw it out and wash out your sensory play table.
Green Finger Paint
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 2 cups water
- green food coloring
- clear or green liquid dish soap
Mix sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Put over low heat and add cold water, stirring constantly until mixture clears and thickens. Remove from heat. Add coloring and a few squirts of dish soap. Child can fingerpaint on freezer paper, fingerpaint paper, or a glass window or shower door. This makes enough fingerpaint, that you could divide the uncolored mixture into a muffin tin, and color each section a different color, but on St. Patrick's day, the focus is on the color green. Food coloring may stain clothes and carpeting. Wear a smock or old tee shirt. Lay a plastic drop cloth or old newspapers under your young artist's work area.
Printables from Your Computer
Print off the St. Patrick's Day party hat. Supervise your preschooler as he cuts it out. Help him to glue it, add some ribbon or elastic, and let it dry before wearing it.
Print off a St. Patrick's Day coloring page for your preschooler to color.
Make this easy St. Patrick's Bingo game. Print off the cards with green ink on sturdy card stock. Cut out an laminate. Buy green candies to use for markers. Bingo reviews number recognition and counting skills.
Shamrock Shapes and the Number Three
Cut three of each shape from green construction paper: could be three hearts, three triangles, three circles. Count to three. Have child sort the shapes. Three shapes, three pieces of each shape. Child finds three shapes alike, then glues them in a triangular pattern to make a shamrock. Add a narrow green rectangle for a stem. Continue until all shapes have been matched, all shamrocks are made. Stick in the child's bedroom window with masking tape.
Explore Nature
If you live far enough south, it may be possible to look for three- and four-leafed clover in a grassy field. If you live in the north, and you plan far enough in advance, you could plant some clover or shamrock in a flower pot. Let the child pick some clover. Examine the leaves with a child-safe magnifying glass. Lay some clover in the pages of a phone book for a week to press it, then glue it to a card and laminate to make an attractive book mark. Talk about the superstition that four-leafed clovers bring good luck. You can explain to your child that we make our own luck, either good or bad, by how we relate to our world.
Rainbows and a Pot of Gold
This would be a great activity to paint on a glass door or large picture window. Squirt a small amount of red tempra paint on a paper plate. Child (or children) press hands lightly in the paint, getting their palms and fingers in it. Then press hands in an arch near the top of the window. Parent/teacher will need to supervise.
Child washes hands well, then returns to dip hands in a squirt of orange paint, repeat. Paint yellow hands, then green, then light blue, then dark blue, then violet at the bottom. Allow paint to dry. Cut a large pot from black construction paper. Child glues "gold" sugar pops cereal at the top of the pot. Tape the pot at the bottom of the rainbow. Talk about all the colors of the rainbow. Extend the activity – make rainbows with a prism, or look for the rainbow in bubbles.
Green is Yummy
Child helps you prepare some green foods for a snack. Wash, quarter and slice a green apple. Cut some broccoli into bite-size pieces. Add green food coloring to some sour cream vegetable dip. Make a milk shake using pistachio or mint ice cream. Frost a few crackers with green-tinted frosting or butter. You could even scramble some eggs with green food coloring. Read the ever-popular children's book, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Taste all the foods. Talk about color, taste, texture and smell.
Leprechaun Mischief
Read Jack and the Leprechaun to your child before nap time. While he is sleeping, make a little mess in the play area or living room. Tip over a chair, knock a picture or book onto the flour, etc. Sprinkle some gold glitter around, like a little leprechaun was skipping around the room causing trouble. Then hide a small pot filled with gold-foil wrapped candies for your child to find. When he wakes up from nap, guide him to laugh at the silly leprechaun's mischief. Help him straighten the room again and find the prize. Serve it with a glass of milk.
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