Leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold! These symbolic images ring in St. Patrick’s Day each and every year. Everywhere you look, a sea of green and gold welcomes this festive Irish holiday. Here are some fabulous resources for planning your preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme. Most of these St. Patrick’s Day activities for kids are designed for kids ages 3 through 5, but many can be modified for younger and older kids as well.
WHY IT’S FUN
St. Patrick’s Day is a fun and festive holiday for any age to explore. Kids can have fun exploring many concepts such as Irish history, rainbows, and maybe even mythical leprechauns! It’s also fun to dress up in green and learn about another culture’s big holiday.
WHEN TO TEACH A ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME
The month of March is the perfect time to teach a preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme. With St. Patrick’s Day always on March 17, you can decide how far in advance you want to spread out your activities.
Some people prefer to spread them over the first two weeks of March with a culminating activity on St. Patrick’s Day.
Others like to save everything for one St. Patty’s Day celebration on March 17.
We tend to spread our activities out over at least a week so we can fully explore the concepts and have time for different crafts and pretend play activities.
Choose the approach that best meets your kids’ interest level and the requirements of your program if necessary.
TEACHING TIPS & MAJOR CONCEPTS KIDS WILL LEARN
If you’re planning a preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme there are many possibilities for incorporating meaningful early learning skills.
These are just some of the concepts kids can learn about during a St. Patrick’s Day theme:
- the history of St. Patrick’s Day
- Irish heritage
- rainbows
- colors
- shamrocks
- mythical leprechauns
You can also use plastic shamrocks, gold coins, or an array of green manipulatives for many learning activities to teach math and literacy concepts.
ITEMS TO COLLECT AND REQUEST IN ADVANCE
If you get parents, friends, and family involved you can enrich the experience kids have during your preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Collect or ask people to help you collect:
- gold plastic coins
- green shamrock necklaces
- rainbow colored sensory bin fillers
- green playdough
- an Irish flag
You might even invite special guests (or go visit if you can) to come and share about fields and hobbies related to St. Patrick’s Day. You could include:
- someone from Irish descent
- a bag pipe player
PRINTABLE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set currently includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) Pot of Gold Counting Mats 1-20
2) St. Patrick’s Day Upper and Lowercase ABC Match
3) Pot of Gold Ending Sounds
4) Leprechaun Hiding Game
5) “If I Were A Leprechaun” book
6) 0-35 Gold and Clover Number Cards
7) St. Patrick’s Day Pattern Mats and Cards (4 versions)
8) Rainbow Writing Sight Words
9) St. Patrick’s Day Roll and Color Math Game
10) St. Patrick’s Day Roll and Add Game
11) Editable Pot of Gold Names Activity
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Preschool St. Patrick’s Day Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Rainbow Theme Lesson Plans
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Preschool Rainbow Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
RELATED ST. PATRICK’S DAY PRINTABLES
Inside our March writing journals you’ll get writing prompt ideas for St. Patrick’s Day and some other fun themes to explore for the month.
In our full Roll and Color St. Patrick’s Day Math set there are 16 roll and color math games for early math skills from preschool through first grade.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS ON FANTASTIC FUN AND LEARNING
Here on Fantastic Fun and Learning we’ve shared the following ideas to go along with a preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Involve the senses and create a St. Patrick’s Day themed sensory bin full of water beads, gold coins, and shamrocks.
Create a St. Patty’s Day sensory squish bag featuring gold coins and shamrocks. Guaranteed mess-free sensory fun!
Set out a St. Patrick’s Day play dough invitation and invite children to create something sparkly and colorful with all of the themed loose parts.
This gold play dough activity is perfect for letting little hands explore and play with gold loose parts. We think they’ll especially love the sparkly gold play dough!
This themed sensory bin is perfect for St. Patrick’s day as it allows for a hands-on way to explore all sorts of the holiday’s symbols.
Race to find all the gold coins and practice the alphabet at the same time with this exciting gold coin scavenger hunt!
Grab some pom poms and paint a rainbow for this St. Patrick’s Day Pot of Gold Craft.
Build sight words with gold coins with this hands-on St. Patrick’s day literacy activity.
Work on counting forwards and backwards as you race for the gold with this St. Patrick’s Day themed math game.
Create your very own homemade St. Patrick’s day shirt with kids. They’ll loved being involved in their very own creation they can wear!
This simple St. Patrick’s Day sun catcher craft will look festive and great in your window!
Activities Featuring Rainbows
Involve the senses with this fun rainbow and gold water sensory play activity.
Truly taste the rainbow with this fun and tasty rainbow science investigation using Skittles!
Paint a rainbow with pom poms in this fun art project.
This rainbow streamer craft is a fun way to incorporate rainbows and gross motor activity as children run with the colorful streamer and shake the bottle with bits of gold.
Flex those fine motor muscles and practice matching color words at the same time with this rainbow color word activity.
MORE ACTIVITIES FROM CREATIVE EDUCATORS
Check out this extensive list of St. Patrick’s Day play dough ideas from lots of creative educators!
You’re sure to find a healthy and fun St. Patty’s Day themed snack for the classroom, lunch box, or party here.
We searched high and low to find some of the very best St. Patrick’s Day activities for children.
INFORMATIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS
Learn some cool facts about St. Patrick’s Day with this educational video.
Explore some St. Patty’s Day vocabulary with some great visual aids.
This collection of rainbow videos and songs will help you dive deeper into learning about rainbows.
YOUTUBE SONGS
Skip count and sing along with Jack Hartmann to this St. Patrick’s Day themed counting song.
I’m a Little Leprechaun is a fun and catchy song for little ones that is sung to the tune to I’m a Little Teapot.
This St, Patrick’s Day rainbow song is a great way to review colors and sing along to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and with a little Celtic banjo in the background.
Learn to spell G-R-E-E-N with this St. Patty’s Day themed song sung to the tune and pattern of B-I-N-G-O.
Dance and move along with these dancing leprechauns, sung to the tune of Skip to My Lou.
OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
Finger plays and action rhymes are a great addition to your preschool themes. Here are a few terrific options to go along with a St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Pre-K Fun has a ton of St. Patrick’s Day themed songs, poems, and finger plays to enjoy!
Have fun singing and moving to some of these St. Patty’s Day themed action rhymes and songs from The Holiday Zone.
If you’d like to supplement your hands-on learning with some online games you might try:
Practice counting skills, memory games, or go on a leprechaun hunt with these fun St. Patty’s Day online games from Primary Games.
Do some online puzzles or play a spot the difference with some St. Patrick’s Day games from A Kids Heart.
FAVORITE ST. PATRICK’S DAY BOOKS
Affiliate links included.
There are a ton of wonderful books to read for your St. Patrick’s Day theme. Below are some of our favorite picture books for a St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Explore the history and meaning behind St. Patrick’s Day with real photographs and nonfiction texts.
MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY BOOKS
From shamrocks to rainbows and pots of gold, and even leprechauns, you’re sure to find some great St. Patrick’s Day books for kids with this list we’ve put together for you.
OTHER PROPS AND TEACHING TOOLS
Reinforce learning with these hands-on materials for your St. Patrick’s Day theme. They can be used for sensory bins, crafts, and learning activities.
FREE PRINTABLES
Roll and color your way to early number sense with this free printable St. Patrick’s Day math game.
POSSIBLE FIELD TRIPS OR ADVENTURES
- go on a scavenger hunt outdoors in search of gold coins
- try to catch a mischievous leprechaun
- observe a rainbow in the sky
- go on a virtual field trip to Ireland
WHAT NEXT?
As you wrap up your preschool St. Patrick’s Day theme take note of what the kids were most interested in throughout the theme. Continue on by investigating one of those concepts more in depth, or dive full force into spring topics. Below are some possible suggestions. Themes we have printable lesson plans for include links after them.
- Rainbows
- Spring Themes-We have 12 more fun spring themes that are perfect for preschoolers.
Check out these planning guides for even more inspiraton.
RETURN TO OUR MAIN PRESCHOOL THEME PAGE FOR MORE IDEAS TO EXPLORE
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