They say you’ll find gold at the end of a rainbow, but it’s just as much fun to search for it in a soothing water play activity. That’s just what we put together in this St. Patrick’s Day sensory play activity for preschoolers.
FIND EVEN MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY IDEAS IN OUR PRINTABLE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME LESSON PLANS.
Materials
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- Shallow container
- Green water beads (hydrated)*
- Gold coins and green plastic coins
- Shamrocks
- Water tinted with green food coloring
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE: Water beads are dangerous if swallowed. It is imperative that if you choose to do this activity with young children you supervise closely and do not allow children to ingest dehydrated or hydrated water beads. As an alternative you could also make your own DIY water beads using tapioca pearls.
Combine all materials and invite kids to explore freely. Tinker loved scooping handfuls of water beads and feeling them slide through her finger tips.
Then she found all of the gold coins and counted. She wondered whether there were more green or gold coins, so she decided to count the green coins next. She even made towers to compare the height of the towers and confirm her counting. As always I loved the learning that naturally evolves from play activities like this.
After stacking the coins she wondered whether she could make coins balance on the floating shamrocks. This was an awesome way to incorporate science! Although it was tricky at first, she persevered and was able to balance some of the coins on the shamrocks. I think six was the most she could balance before the shamrock would sink into the water.
Once we were done for the day we put a lid on our container and saved it for more playtime later.
*Be sure to supervise kids closely with this sensory bin as water beads are a choking hazard.
More St. Patrick’s Day Fun
More St. Patrick’s Day Activities
MORE ST. PATRICK’S DAY THEME FUN WITH PRINTABLE 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 St. Patrick’s Day theme pack includes semi-editable lesson plans and hands-on activities for a week full of math, reading, & science learning activities to explore some fun St. Patrick’s Day topics. Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Preschool St. Patrick’s Day Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
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