st patrick's day activities for preschool kindergarten and first grade
1-2-3 Come Play Some St. Patrick's Day Games With Me
Are you looking for a few, quick, easy and fun activities for St. Patrick's Day that cover some standards?
Word finds are an interesting way to build vocabulary at the same time reinforcing letters and spelling.
Even though there are a lot of word search generators out there, they mostly have uppercase letters.
Further difficulties arise, because the puzzles share letters, show the words going backwards, as well as diagonally and vertically, so I make up my own to keep them relatively easy (showing the words in forward-horizontal fashion using lowercase letters) .
This way my kiddos don't get frustrated. If you want to do these easy ones with older elementary students, simply give them 1-minute to find as many as they can.
"Speed" games, help prepare children for timed tests in a non-stressful way. Besides using them as a game, they are a nice plug-in for your Daily 5 word work activities too. Click on the link to view/download the 2 St. Patrick's Day word searches.
Another way to work on words, is by giving students a seasonal themed-word and challenging them to create other words, using only the letters that appear in that word.
With that in mind, I created How Many Words Can You Find in Leprechaun, and another one for the word shamrock.
Surprisingly, I made 97 words from the letters in shamrock, and found 161 words using the letters in leprechaun.
The packet includes recording sheets, as well as my answer keys. Click on the link to view/download the How Many Can You Find St. Patrick's Day activity.
If you want to work on math skills, all of the number puzzles make a nice independent center activity that helps reinforce sequencing, counting forwards & backwards, as well as skip counting by 10s to 100.
I designed 16 specifically for St. Patricks Day, which includes some in color, as well as 5 in black and white, so that students can color their own. Click on the link to view/download the St. Paddy's Day Puzzle Packet.
Finally, I like to continue my monthly themes in all of my subjects, so I designed St. Patrick's Day-themed 10 frames.
You can use them for addition and subtraction as well as games, as I've included number words for matching, plus shamrock, leprechaun and hat tiles, to run off and use as manipulatives.
There are also math symbol cards, so children can make up equations, including greater than and less than. Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock 10 Frames packet.
Well that's it for today. I hope you found something useful. The sun is shining and I feel like doing an Irish jig. We've certainly had our fill of yucky cold weather here in Michigan.
I think Mother Nature forgot to "spring forward". Wishing you a magical day filled with lots of sunshine.
"I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it." -Denzel Washington
I continue to plug along completing the Telling Time Cards for each month, and just finished the March clock set with shamrocks. Click on the link to view/download them.
I also have a variety of other telling time games with a shamrock theme, that are great throughout the month of March, but especially nice to plug in for St. Patrick’s Day, when you might want to add a bit more fun to the day because it’s “special”.
Start off by offering a quick and easy Make A Shamrock Clock center. Students cut out the circle, glue it to a paper plate and then count by 5’s to write in the helpful numbers around the clock.
Punch a hole in the center, fasten a brass brad and attach a small and large paperclip and you’re done! Students can take turns calling out a time. Everyone manipulates the paperclip hands to make that time and holds up their clock to show the answer. It's a quick & easy way to whole-group assess.
I’ve also included a plain clock so that you can use it anytime, without the shamrock theme idea. Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock Clock
Bingo Dot Clock is another fun way to whole-group assess students. Call on a quiet child to “spy” a time to the hour.
Students trace the number, bingo dot the circle, manipulate the paperclip hands to show the correct time and then hold up their clock when done.
The first child with the correct answer gets to spy the next time for everyone to find. Click on the link to view/download Bingo Dot Shamrock Clock game.
Spin to Win also reinforces time to the hour. Students can either spin the shamrock clock spinner or roll a pair of dice.
Rolling dice involves simple addition and subtraction. Students trace the digital time on their time card and then write it. The first student to completely fill their time card in is the winner.
This game also includes traceable digital time cards to the hour and half hour + a certificate of praise bookmark. Click on the link to view/download Shamrock Spin To Win game
Shamrocks on a Roll also involves dice and addition and subtraction. Students have the option to trace the numbers on their shamrock clock or write them in. Click on the link to view/download Shamrocks on a Roll
Finally, Shamrock Skip Counting includes a shamrock spinner for counting by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, and 10’s. There is also a spinner for counting by 1’s for younger students.
Knowing how to skip count is important in telling time. Click on the link to view/download Skip Counting With Shamrocks
Thanks for visiting. Feel free to PIN away. I hope your “time” playing some of these games on St. Patrick’s Day is delightful!
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." -Benjamin Franklin
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