14 St. Patrick’s Day Freebies for Kindergarten
Let’s plan fun St. Patrick’s day activities for the kindergarten classroom. Here are free mini-projects, reading resources, sight word activities, and math mats – all with a St. Paddy’s Day theme.
Don’t feel like just because there are a lot of fun St. Patrick’s Day ideas for the classroom out there that you have to do a lot.
It’s my style to keep it simple – like just pick one or two things from this list and incorporate them into your normal daily routine.
You may also want to read: How to celebrate any minor holiday in kindergarten
So, let’s start with some mini-projects since these may be “extra” activities and then jump into the resources and activities that would fit into your normal day.
These freebies are from various teachers so you’ll need to follow the links in order to download them.
Mini-projects
Swap out your writing time or carve out a few extra minutes from your daily routine to insert one of these mini-projects for St. Patrick’s Day.
Directed leprechaun drawing
This directed drawing for a leprechaun turns out really cute. Students can make any kind of background, but I think the rainbow is just perfect. And I loved that this student chose to make theirs a grumpy-faced leprechaun.
Rainbow loot necklace
Make this fun, edible rainbow necklace as a fun counting activity that also is good for fine motor work. You’ll need a nice, giant box of Froot Loops and some string.
Sometimes the rainbow, and not the gold at the end can be the reward {wink}
Tip! Tape one end of their string onto the table so their hard work doesn’t slip off while they’re working.
Or if you want to make treats ahead of time instead of as a class, here are three free St. Patrick’s Day printable treat tags.
Leprechaun hat craft
Make a trace-and-cut Leprechaun hat to celebrate with a little themed cuteness. This free pattern comes with all of the pieces to make the hat except that you’ll need to make the headband to wrap around.
For this mini-project you’ll need:
- green pipe cleaners
- green, black and yellow construction paper
- scissors
- glue
Pot of gold writing craft
Have your students write and draw what’s really in the pot of gold with this “What’s in the Leprechaun’s Pot?” craftivity.
Those are fun activities to squeeze into the day or week of St. Patrick’s Day. Now, let’s dig into some reading and math activities that can easily fit into the normal daily routine of kindergarten life.
Reading resources
What can you do during your guided reading groups or during your phonics mini-lessons? Try one of these free reading resources.
CVC sounds
Snag some gold coins from the Dollar Tree and this Elkonin box printout. But – you could also use pennies, counters, or yellow circle die-cuts.
Kinders put coins on the pot, then they slide a coin into each box as they say each sound in the spoken word. This will work for both CVC or CVCC words.
Emergent reader
Take this free St. Patrick’s Day emergent reader and use it in your guided reading groups. There are two versions so you can pick what’s right for your groups.
Leprechaun poem
Use this cute little “I’m a Little Leprechaun” poem on March 17th. It’s to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot.” Circle the rhyming word pairs, highlight the sight words and all of the little bits your students know.
For example, your students probably know bits like:
- ck
- sh
- ch
- ing
- oo
- sneaky e
- am (hiding in shamrock)
Each student will end up with his or her own colored poem based on what they know.
But they’ll be amazed at how much of the poem they can “read” based on how much of the text is colored!
More on: Five lucky clovers poem Or do this Five Lucky Clovers poem aloud with your class as a shared reading activity. Things you could do: Play this Spin-and-change game with your level 3/4 (C/D) readers in guided reading groups. Kinders have to substitute sounds in all three positions of CVC words and figure out if the words are real or nonsense. We often cover sight words in our daily life in kindergarten. Here are three different activities you could use on St. Patricks day. I call this shamrock jelly – simply use green-dyed hair gel in sealed Ziploc baggies. Here’s the tutorial on how to make these DIY squishy bags. Have students use it as a tactile place to do their sight words, word work or spelling words during your guided reading groups. No need to erase – just smoosh and start again! Students pass around a black Leprechaun pot (like the one you find at the Dollar Tree) or a small container and take turns reading sight word cards. This free St. Patty’s Day Hooray game is an easy game for groups. Put these Rainbow roll-and-write-a-sight-word sheets into plastic sleeve protectors with a die and a dry-erase marker. You’ve got a free sight word activity that focuses on repeated practice. Can they guess which color column will fill up first? Maybe they get to eat a matching color skittle for each color column they fill up! Now, let’s look at some math mats you can use either whole-group or during guided math. Here are some mats to either laminate or place into plastic protector sleeves so you can get a lot of use out of them. Use any math manipulatives you have on hand to make them work. Make a set of number cards 11-19. Students pull a card and make the teen number in the rainbow ten frames. Use yellow cereal as golden coins or even yellow linking cubes for manipulatives. More on: Why do teen numbers have a 1? Write numbers 11-19 (or higher if you’ve got more advanced students) onto gold Dollar Tree St. Patrick’s day coins. Students grab a coin and use base ten blocks to break down (decompose) the number into groups of tens and ones on these rainbow teen numbers sheets. I added the “tens” and “ones” labels at the bottom of my math mats before slipping them into our dry-erase plastic sleeve to make them more kinder-friendly. Let your students practice addition with one, two or three dice. This free lucky addition rainbow game is just right for March and it’s already differentiated for you. Students use the rules of bump games to try and be the first to have all of their playing pieces on the game mat. There you have it – mini-projects, reading resources, math mats, and sight word activities – all free and just right for St. Patrick’s Day. Just because there are a lot of fun ideas, you don’t have to do them all. Your students will have a wonderful day even if you keep it simple. So pick what you love and skip the rest. If you’re ready for more, then check out these St. Patrick’s Day videos for kindergarten. If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.Lucky spinner CVC game
Sight word activities
Shamrock jelly sight words
Sight word card game
Roll-and-read sight words
Math mats
Composing teen numbers
Decomposing teen numbers
Addition game
Let’s wrap it up