Are you looking for fun classroom St. Patrick’s Day activities for elementary students? In this blog post, I’ll be sharing fun math, reading, writing, and science activities that are sure to bring the fun and MAGIC of St. Patrick’s Day into your lesson plans!
Be sure to stick with me til the end to find out my FAVORITE St. Patrick’s Day activity for the month of March! Plus, I’ve also got a free download for you!
St. Patrick’s Day Math Activities
- Lucky Coin Addition: Incorporate a game where students toss toy coins onto a classroom rug and then add up the values of the coins that land on specific sections, combining physical activity with math practice. This is a great way to practice money and the value of coins, especially in 2nd grade!
- Rainbow Math: Create colorful math work with a rainbow theme, such as solving equations or completing number patterns based on the colors of the rainbow. Students love to use markers, crayons, or colored pencils, so doing their math in rainbow order will be so much fun for them! (Letting students use a different color to do their math work is fun for students in first grade all the way to fifth grade!)
- Shamrock Symmetry: Challenge your students to create symmetrical shamrock designs by folding and cutting green paper in the shape of a four-leaf clover. Then, have them color their shamrocks so the designs remain symmetrical. (This is great for fourth grade math geometry standards!)
- Pot of Gold Measurement: Set up a station where students use rulers or measuring tapes to measure different-sized “pots of gold” or other St. Patrick’s Day-themed objects. This makes for great measurement practice!
- Lucky Charms Graphing: This is always a favorite math activity for students because it involves food! Bring in a box of lucky charms and have your little leprechauns tally up each of the types of marshmallow and display their data using a graph. This is an easy way to practice creating graphs and other math skills.
St. Patrick’s Day Science Activities
- Leprechaun Slime: Guide students through making slime, incorporating glitter to tie in the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. (And of course, make it the color green! Just use green food coloring!)
- Rainbow Density Jar: Create colorful density jars by layering liquids of different densities to form a rainbow-like effect.
- Climbing Rainbow: Teach your students about the capillary action of plants by creating a climbing rainbow. This activity is so simple! You just need markers, a paper towel, and water. If you’ve never heard of this experiment, here’s a video that shows the easy steps! (This is a perfect opportunity to lead into plant lessons for the spring!)
- Gold Coin Catapult: Engage students in building and testing mini catapults to launch gold coin tokens. (Great fine motor skills practice too!)
- Leprechaun Traps: A popular activity for younger students–and also ties in STEM! Students construct a trap using boxes, popsicle sticks, toilet paper tubes, etc…
- Mystery Bag Science: Introduce a mystery bag of St. Patrick’s Day-themed items and challenge students to use their senses to explore and guess the contents! Ideas of items to include: gold coins, candy, glasses, and shamrocks. You can find so many little items at dollar stores or the Target holiday section.
- Make a Rainbow: St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect time of year to teach about rainbows! Using a clear glass, water, and a piece of paper, you can make a rainbow with your students. Pair this with some creative writing about a leprechaun hiding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This video will show you how to do this fun St. Patrick’s Day science experiment!
St. Patrick’s Day Writing Activities
- Pot of Gold Persuasive Writing: Engage students in persuasive/opinion writing by asking them to argue why they should (or shouldn’t) be granted access to a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
- St. Patrick’s Day Acrostic Poems: Have students create acrostic poems using the letters of “St. Patrick’s Day” or “Leprechaun”. You can display the poems around the classroom or on the hallway bulletin board. To make it even more decorative, you can have all students trace and cut out their footprints on various colors of construction paper. Then, display the rainbow-colored footprints in the hallway leading to a pot of gold. Make it extra cute by labeling it “Our lucky (grade level) class!)
- Be sure to grab 3 FREE exciting St. Patrick’s Day creative writing prompts that are sure to get your students’ imaginations turning! Sign up at the end of this post! These fun prompts can be used as centers, independent work, or even morning work!
Practice Reading Comprehension With St. Patrick’s Day Read Alouds
Practice theme and other reading comprehension skills by having read-aloud time with your class!
One of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day read-alouds is How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace! In this fun St. Patrick’s Day story a leprechaun visits children’s houses, much like Santa would, but instead of leaving gifts he does things like pulling out their shoelaces, putting glitter in hair, and turning toilets green.
The children try to catch him with many different traps but the sneaky little leprechaun is just too clever and quick. Your students will love this story!
Check out other March read-alouds for lower elementary and upper elementary students!
My FAVORITE: Do a Reading Comprehension Escape Room for St. Patrick’s Day!
Your students will love solving this St. Patrick’s Day-themed Comprehension Quest. Your students will read 6 passages and earn clues to help them solve the quest! Topics include love rainbows, Chicago’s Green River, Saint Patrick & the history of St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish Potato Famine, and more! It’s the perfect way to practice reading skills while still having fun!
Here’s an inside look!
I hope you enjoyed this list of fun activities for St. Patrick’s Day and have some ideas for your elementary students. Save this blog post so you can always refer back to the simple ways to you can bring a little luck into your classroom. Do you have any other activities that you do in your own classroom for this holiday?
Don’t forget to grab your St. Patrick’s Day creative writing prompts below!
