This is always a fun holiday to celebrate with the parades and everyone wearing green. I wouldn't bring up the pinching tradition for children this young, but someone will probably know it and tell the class.
Art Activities
Books
Songs/Fingerplays
Center/Misc Ideas
Irish Flag
Color or paint an Irish flag like the one Jamie placed on top of the hill.
St. Patrick's Day In The Morning
ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Tune: The Mulberry Bush
Let's wear green and dance a jig,
Dance a jig, dance a jig,
Let's wear green and dance a jig,
On St. Patrick's Day!
Shamrocks In The Discovery Table Hidden Among Green Paper Easter Grass
Let the children try to find all of the shamrocks among the grass.
Shamrock Window Decoration
Lay a shamrock border with the middle cut out on contact paper and put different colored small torn pieces in the middle. Then fold the contact paper over the the top to make a St. Patricks window decoration.
It's St. Patrick's Day
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SHAMROCK
Tune: Have You Ever Seen A Lassie?
Have you ever seen a shamrock, a shamrock, a shamrock?
Have you ever seen a shamrock with three heart shaped leaves,
A heart shaped leaf this way and a heart shaped leaf that way?
Have you ever seen a shamrock with three heart shaped leaves?
Finding The Gold
While the children are out of the room, hide a gold chocolate coin for each child all around the room. You can put tiny feet print stamps across the table or floor to make it look more authentic.
Thumbprint Shamrocks
Place 2 thumbprints into a heart shape for each of the 3 petals of a shamrock. Connect the petals and draw a stem. You can make a whole field of them on your paper.
Shamrock Mobile
Cut out different sizes for shamrocks, some without a center and attache them to pipe cleaners in different shapes and sizes with green string.
Jeremy Bean's St. Patrick's Day
OH I WISH I WAS A LITTLE LEPRECHAUN
Tune: Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener
Oh I wish I was a little leprechaun,
That is what I'd truly like to be eee
Cause if I were a little leprechaun,
I'd dance a jig and play some tricks on thee.
Shamrock Sorting
Sort all the shamrocks by sizes or tints of green. Then you can count each pile and even graph them.
Marble Painted Shamrock
Put a large green shamrock in a box lid or dishpan and use golf balls or large marbles to roll through drops of paint across the shamrock. The kids love tilting the lid.
Feather Painted Shamrock
Use a feather to paint across the shamrock. It makes a fun pattern.
The Night Before St. Patrick's Day
LEPRECHAUN
Tune: Do You Know The Muffin Man
Oh have you seen a leprechaun,
A leprechaun, a leprechaun?
Oh have you seen a leprechaun,
Who comes from Ireland?
Among the shamrocks he may hide,
He may hide, he may hide,
Among the shamrocks he may hide,
So catch him if you can! -cup hands together with clap
Bring In An Actual Growing Shamrock Plant
Examine the plant closely. Discus the shapes of the leaves and what it needs to keep growing.
Rainbow with Pot of Gold
Have the children easel paint rainbows across the paper and place their own pot of gold at the bottom of it.
That's What Leprechauns Do
I'M A LITTLE LEPRECHAUN
Tune: I'm A Little Teapot
I'm a little leprechaun
Dressed in green,
>The tiniest man
You've ever have seen.
If you ever catch me, so it's told
I'll give away my pot of gold.
Leprechaun Dress Up
Have lots of green clothes in the dress up area so that the children can pretend to dress up as Leprechauns.