St. Patrick's Day is a holiday of whimsy and imagination. Get your kids in the spirit and test to see if they have the luck of the Irish with these fun St. Patrick's Day activities.
1. Treasure Hunt
Hide some treasure and write down the location of the treasure on pieces of paper. A phrase like “under the couch” or “behind the bed” will work best. Write each letter of the clue on a different piece of paper and number them in order. Send the kids on a scavenger hunt to find all the letters and then decipher the phrase to find the pot of gold, or just some gold chocolate coins, at the end of the rainbow!
Read more: Education.com
2. Hot Potato
Use real potatoes instead of a beanbag to pay homage to one of the most beloved foods in Ireland. Students pass a potato (or multiple) around in a circle until the blindfolded “caller” calls out “Hot!”. The students holding the potato at that moment are out. Continue until you have the last man standing who will be the next caller.
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3. Arts and Crafts
St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect holiday to get crafty. Shamrocks are an easy shape to cut out and there are plenty of ways you can decorate them. An easy favorite is to spread glue on a shamrock cutout and sprinkle lime Jell-o on top. This will leave you with a fun scented shamrock bound to bring some luck!
Read more: Education.com
4. Make a puppet
You only need a paper bag and some colored craft paper to make a fun Leprechaun puppet. You can put up a puppet show once you’re done and let your child’s imagination run wild with fantastic Leprechaun tales. These adorable crafts are one of the best St. Patrick's Day activities for kids.
Read more: Toddler Approved
5. Rainbow shakers
You only need a paper bag and some colored craft paper to make a fun Leprechaun puppet. You can put up a puppet show once you’re done and let your child’s imagination run wild with fantastic Leprechaun tales. These adorable crafts are one of the best St. Patrick's Day activities for kids.
Read more: Happy Mothering
6. Scavenger Hunt
Print out a fun list of St. Patrick’s Day-related items that you can hide around the classroom or the house. Send kids on a scavenger hunt to find all the items and check them off their lists in order to be rewarded with a “pot of gold” or perhaps just some candy.
Read more: Food Fun Family
7. Make Slime
Make some Leprechaun slime to keep little hands busy. You can add glitter or Shamrock confetti to make it more on-theme and all the ingredients are easily accessible at any grocery store. This is an easy and fun craft and the perfect St. Patrick's Day activity.
Read more: Little Bins for Little Hands
8. Magic Rainbow Ring
Using the colors of the rainbow to demonstrate the movement of water molecules is the perfect way to get kids excited about science while staying on theme. Add red, yellow, and blue (primary colors) food coloring into clear plastic cups filled with warm water and connect the cups with pieces of kitchen towel rolled up. In between each colored cup should be a cup with clean water. Notice how the colors move up the kitchen towel until they meet in the clear cup and create new secondary colors like green, purple, and orange.
Read more: Andrea Knight Teacher Author
9. Lucky Charm Sorting
Have students separate lucky charm marshmallows from the rest of the serial by blowing them with straws. Lay out some serial on a table and instruct students to collect as many marshmallows into their corner as they can. You can connect this to the concepts of energy, force, and motion.
Read more: Andrea Knight Teacher Author
10. Write a “what if” story
Students should write a story about what they would do “IF” they found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. They can decorate their stories by pasting them onto a cauldron cutout and adding some gold coin accents.
Read more: Teachers Pay Teachers
11. Lucky Charms bar graph
Practice counting or even fractions by having students count the number of marshmallows in their box of Lucky Charms. They should separate the different shapes and indicate their findings on a basic bar chart.
Read more: How To Homeschool My Child
12. Learn an Irish Step Dance
Step dancing, or Irish dancing, is a huge part of Irish culture and something strongly associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Teach the kids a beginner step dance with online videos and tutorials to get their blood pumping. The steps are difficult but the kids will love Irish music more than anything!
Read more: My Fresh Plans
13. Make a Leprechaun mask
Use a paper plate and some colored cardstock to create a fun Leprechaun mask. Color the plate red to mimic the tiny fella’s red locks and cut out a green hat to stick on top. Let the kids try out their best Irish accent while wearing their fun masks. This is an adorable kids' activity that will promise you many laughs!
Read more: Good Housekeeping
14. Build a Leprechaun trap
Delve into the legend that if you trap a Leprechaun, it will take you to his pot of gold. Kids can test their ingenuity by building a basic trap or get more inventive by illustrating a more elaborate conceptual trap. Making a brightly-colored Leprechaun trap is a great way to learn more about St. Patrick's day lore while creating a cool craft.
Read more: Mrs. Henry in First
15. Make Shamrock Stamps
Cut out hearts from sponges for the perfect shamrock stamp. Dipping the heart in green paint and using it as a stamp will create fun prints of the 4-leaf clovers when 4 hearts are stamped together. Kids can use the print on wrapping paper or decorate a book. There are plenty of other things you can use to make these prints. Potato stamps, bell peppers, pipe cleaners, wine corks, water bottles, and toilet rolls all make great stamps.
Read more: Super Moms 360
16. Shamrock Salt Painting
Doing a salt painting is a great activity that can be adapted to any theme. Simply trace a picture of a shamrock with some craft glue and sprinkle a generous helping of salt over the glue. Before the glue dries you can paint the salt that remains after shaking off the residual loose grains. This is great for students as young as pre-K as little to no actual skill is required.
Read more: Happiness is Homemade
17. St. Patrick's Day Mobile
Collect different materials for kids to craft a rainbow mobile with. Cotton wool, paper plates, string, streamers, colored paper, and paint can all be used. This is a great way to teach students the order of the rainbow or let them express their own ideas of what a rainbow looks like with a bunch of colors. Add leprechauns, gold coins, and shamrocks to this cool kids' craft to make their mobile magical.
Read more: Bakerross
18. Play a board game
Print out a fun St. Patrick’s Day-themed board game to help kids with counting and how to take part in some friendly competition. A simple board game template can be adapted to suit different levels of students and they can make their own four-leaf clover game pieces if you want them to get creative!
Read more: Fun Learning for Kids
19. Draw a secret map
You can use a white crayon to draw a map of the Leprechaun’s hidden treasure on a white sheet of paper. When students paint over the sheet with green watercolor paint the hidden map will be revealed. Hide some chocolate gold coins for students to find. Students in the 4th and 5th Grade could even attempt to draw their own maps and give them to their friends.
Read more: Education.com
20. Fruit-loops Rainbow
Kids just can't get enough of rainbows on St. Patrick's Day. The only thing better than a pretty rainbow is an edible pretty rainbow! Stick some fruitloops and cotton wool to a sheet of paper for this fun craft. Kids can also improve their fine motor skills by threading some string through the fruitloops and hanging them off a piece of cardboard, this way they remain edible!
Read more: Jenny Irvine
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make St Patrick's Day fun?
This holiday lends itself to oodles of whimsy and magic. Plaster shamrocks and rainbows on everything and the kids will instantly be transported into a fantasy world. Try an incorporate the fantasy element of the holiday and the principle of “luck” and you already have yourself tons of fun lined up.
What are the symbols of St Patrick's Day?
The main symbols of St. Patrick’s day are the leprechaun, a shamrock, a rainbow, and gold coins. Try to incorporate these into your arts and craft and activities to make any activity St. Patrick’s Day themed.
What can I do for St Patrick's Day at home?
The possibilities are seemly endless when it comes to St. Patrick's Day activities at home. Some of the most popular activities are treasure hunts and making themed arts and crafts. Stock up on some green glitter and colored paper and you won't run out of ideas anytime soon!
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