When you have little kids or students, there is no denying that every holiday is fun to celebrate and St. Patrick's Day is no different. There are SO many fun things to do and I wanted to share some of my favorite ones that we have been doing over the past couple of weeks.
Gel Window Clings
I bought these at Target a couple of weeks ago. I wish I took a picture before I opened the package so you could see what it looked like, but I completely forgot. So many places carry these anymore so you should be able to find them all over town. I was honestly a little worried about getting these out because I thought either Molly or Howard (our naughty dog) would eat them. Molly has not attempted to eat them, but Howard has. It has caused a few several meltdowns, but so far today Howard has not attempted to steal them off the window and run off into the bedroom with them in his mouth. (Yea!) Molly loves these! First thing in the morning she goes running to the window to look at them. Whoever comes to our house or we Facetime with, she has to show them her new and exciting toy. I have them on a window in the kitchen which has worked out nicely because Molly can stay happily engaged in a fun activity while I get breakfast, lunch, or dinner ready. Win win.
Sensory Tub
Sensory Tubs are a great way to let kids explore different objects and textures, while learning AND having fun! I went to Dollar Spot at Target and Dollar Tree to pick up a bunch of random things to go in my St. Patrick's Day sensory tub. Unfortunately, the Dollar Spot was horribly picked over for St. Patrick's Day goodies, but I was able to find some cute things for the Easter sensory tub {coming soon}. Dollar Tree had a lot of stuff still available so that would be the place I would recommend at this stage in the game. I then went through my teaching stash of craft supplies and grabbed whatever else would match the theme of green and yellow. If you do not have random craft supplies at your house, then I would recommend Hobby Lobby or Michaels.
I put everything that I was going to use for the sensory tub inside a plastic container from target. I love these because 1) it contains the mess 2) they are not too big 3) when you are finished with the activity, you can snap the lid back on and put it in the closet until next St. Patrick's Day. I LOVE labels and organization{everything in our pantry, craft room, bathroom, etc. lives in a plastic container with a label}; therefore, I had to make a label for the sensory tub also. The label can be downloaded for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Rainbow of Beans
This is another sensory tub, but it is so cool that I wanted it to have its own little section. I saw this on Pinterest and knew I had to make it. I have dyed pasta using Happy Hooligan's recipe and it was super easy and quick so I thought I would give that recipe a try with lima beans and it worked!
What you need?
1) lima beans (I did the small ones)
2) white vinegar
3) food coloring (I got neon and primary colors)
4) container with a lid or ziploc baggies
Directions:
1) Pour the white vinegar into the container you will be using. Happy Hooligan's recipe calls for 1 tsp of white vinegar. I did not measure it out. I just poured a small amount of it into the bottom of the container. The first few times I did it, I put too much. I liked the results when there was less white vinegar.
2) Add the food dye of choice. I had no idea that there were neon food dyes. I have no clue where I have been the past however long, but they are fun and bright and perfect for this activity. You will have to play with this a little bit. I was very generous in my food dye because I wanted bright, vibrant colors.
3) Pour the desired amount of beans into the bowl and shake your little heart out. Molly was a HUGE fan of this step. Take a look at the beans and see if they are the color you want them to be. For a few of the rounds, I had to add more food dye to make the color stand out a little more.
4) Pour onto parchment paper and let dry. I let mine dry overnight so that I knew without a doubt it was dry.
5) Pour into a tub and let your little one play with the colors of the rainbow.
Molly loved this activity. She was not a fan of having to wait for the beans to dry. She wanted to play with them immediately, but, hey, a two year old needs to learn patience at some point, right?!
Clover Alphabet and Numbers
Prior to having my own children, I was hardly around little kids. It is absolutely amazing to me just how much they are capable of understanding and knowing at such a young age. My oldest, Molly, just turned two in January. She knows almost all of the letters in the alphabet and probably 80% of their sounds. In true teacher fashion, I have been guilty of not working on numbers and putting all of the focus on Language Arts so I wanted to make sure and include numbers in this activity too so they would not feel left out. :)
I made uppercase and lowercase alphabet clovers and number clovers. I cut them out and then Molly *helped* me tape them throughout the house. She loves taping things so this was a lot of fun for her. If she walks by a letter that she knows she will usually say the letter and sound. If it is one that she does not know, then she will stand there and study it or ask me for help. Since she does not know numbers, this allows us to talk about each one. My hope is that she will know a few of those by the time St. Patrick's day rolls around.
The shamrocks can be downloaded for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Books
Here are some of my favorite books for St. Patrick's Day. Molly's favorite is the 'Ten Lucky Leprechauns'. She calls all of the leprechauns babies and she wants me to read it over and over again. I really like how the Curious George book talks a lot about the holiday and things that are unique to Ireland. They are all really cute books though!
Rainbow Puzzle
I wanted to make a St. Patrick's Day puzzle that my daughter could play with. I also wanted a puzzle that would challenge her once she mastered each step along the way. This rainbow puzzle fits the bill. You can have as few as two pieces for the puzzle and as many as ten pieces. You can download this puzzle for FREE on my Facebook page. Under my APPS on the left hand side of the page, click on 'Fan Freebies' and that will take you to the free download. Like my Facebook page for more free products like this one.
I showed Molly how to do it a couple of times with the two piece puzzle and then she was able to complete it on her own. Over the last week she is now able to do the three piece puzzle on her own. I love that I can continue to challenge her each step of the way.
Leprechaun Hand Print
I saw this cute activity floating around Pinterest and knew that we had to do it. Molly does not like getting dirty (unless it involves playing with rocks) so I was a little concerned as to how she would react to me having to paint her hand, but she thought it was fun kind of fun.
What You Will Need:
1) brown paint (I mixed with a little bit of white paint), 2) orange paint, 3) paintbrush, 4) paint paper or card stock, 5) templates for the hat printed off 6) scissors, 7) glue, 8) green, yellow & black foam paper (construction paper would work too), and 9) googly eyes (or you can just draw your own eyes with marker), and 10) a black marker.
Instructions:
1) Paint your child's hand just like this. Push his or her hand on the paper firmly so that the paint transfers from the hand to the paper. Set aside and let dry. {We let our hand print dry overnight and finished the remaining steps in the morning}
2) Print off the templates to help you make the leprechaun hat. You can see how the template and paper colors match up in the picture above.
3) You will need to fold the yellow square in half and cut out a small square within the square. See example below for a visual.
3) Glue the black paper on top of the green hat as shown in the picture below. Then glue the yellow paper on top of the black paper as shown.
4) Glue the hat on top of the hand print. You will want to be able to see some of the orange hair on top, but do not leave on white showing between the orange and the hat.
5) Glue the googly eyes on the face.
6) Using a marker, draw the nose and mouth.
Here is the finished Leprechaun! I think it it the cutest little Irish boy I have ever seen.
Dobbing for Shamrocks
We have used the dobber a couple of times. I should get it out more often, but I always resort to markers or crayons instead. Molly does enjoy playing with them. The older she gets, the easier it is for her. Clearly, from the way she is holding it we need to play with it a little bit more. Ha
Puffy Paint Shamrock
I got this idea from No More Flashcards. I wanted to do this to try activity for two reasons. 1) I have always wanted to try puffy paint. It looks SO cool. 2) I am determined to get my daughter to enjoy getting her hands dirty and stop freaking out every time she gets paint, markers, food, etc. on them.
1) shaving cream, 2) glue, 3) paint paper or card stock, 4) scissors, and 5) green paint, 6) plastic tub to hold the puffy paint, 7) craft stick (or something that can be used to stir the puffy paint), 8) shamrock template.
Instructions:
1) Print off the template for the shamrock and cut it out.
2) Mix shaving cream, 1/4 cup of glue, and green paint. {I just filled my bowl with shaving cream, poured the paint in and squirted a lot of paint in.}
3) Stir the puffy paint. {Add more shaving cream and paint as needed}
4) I laid everything out on a plastic table cover to prevent any mess.
5) Have fun playing!
Molly was very excited about this activity. She kept saying "Molly paint" over and over again. As soon as she sat down on the table cover and realized that she was going to have to use her hands to paint she was less than enthused. I stuck her hand in the bowl and tried to act as excited as possible, but she was not falling for it. She told me she was all done and I 'encouraged' her to keep going. Eventually I got a smile out of her and she said "again". {Which means she is liking whatever she is doing.}
I would say Molly was not a big fan of this activity; however, she did enjoy touching the shamrock once it dried. It was very puffy, hence the name puffy paint. Ha It really does feel amazing!
Rainbow Celery Experiment
I remember doing this experiment when I taught kindergarten. My students always loved it and seemed completely in awe of how the colored water slowly moved up the celery. I thought that this would be a fun activity to do with my daughter. She may not get as much out of it as my kindergarten students, but she can definitely learn SOMETHING from it. This could be an activity that we do every year and each year can build off of the previous one.
What You Will Need:
1) 6 clear containers filled halfway with water
2) food coloring
3) celery (leave the leaves on the celery because this is where you will see the color the most)
Molly loved getting this experiment set up. She watched me closely as I got all of the items ready. When I put the food coloring in the water she was mesmerized. Her first words were "Wow!" and then she said "again, again!". She helped me stir the water with spoon. I cut the ends off of each stalk of celery and then gave Molly one at a time to place in each glass. To say that she was proud of herself for helping would be an understatement. It was really cute.
Day One:
Day Two:
Rainbow Walking Water Experiment
This experiment is really cool. Like the celery experiment, I remember doing this with my kiddos when I taught. To me this one is just SO amazing to see because you can see the changes happening quickly right before your very eyes.
What Will You Need:
1) 6 clear containers filled halfway with water
2) food dye
3) Paper Towels
Directions:
You will have three containers per experiment. We used small glasses and it seemed to work just fine. Place three glasses side by side. Leave the middle one empty and put water and food dye in the container on either side. We did blue and red in one experiment and yellow and blue in the other. Get some sheets of paper towels and fold like an accordion. Place one end in the glass with the water and the other end in the empty container. Repeat on the other side. See the picture below for a visual.
This is what happened almost immediately after putting the paper towel strips in. Molly was mesmerized.
This was after about twenty minutes.
When Molly woke up the next morning this is what she found:
There are honestly so many more activities that we could do to share with you, but then I would never get this post published. So please check out my St. Patrick's Day Pinterest Board for more activities. I hope this inspired you to do some fun, hands-on St. Patrick's Day activities over the next few weeks.
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