When we think of St Patrick’s Day, leprechauns, shamrocks, parades and the color green may all spring to mind, but 17th March is also a day in Ireland and many places around the world to honor the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick. I’ve compiled my favorite St Patrick’s Day activities for your students to learn more about this holiday and have fun in the process!
Mix the colours of the rainbow
We’ve all heard the stories of leprehauns hiding their pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, so why not plan your own rainbow paint mixing lesson as one your fun St Patrick’s day activities? Students experiment with different color mixing to create the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Give students a picture of a rainbow, or display an image on your whiteboard and see how close students can get to matching the colours! This is a really fun activity which allows students to investigate primary and secondary colours and it makes a really bright and colorful St Patrick’s Day bulletin board display afterwards too!
St Patrick’s Day plant food dye experiment
From clothing, food and even rivers, things are awash with green on St Patrick’s Day, so have a go at using the colour in your own Emerald Isle. Use green food dye to investigate how water travels through a plant. All you need is a jar of water, some green food dye and white flowers such as carnations (celery also works too, if you use enough green dye in the water). Do check first though that your students do not have any pollen allergies.
Fill the jars about half way with water and add a few drops of green food dye. The more food dye you add, the stronger the result will be. Next, place the flowers or celery into the water and observe for a few days. As the plant takes in the water, it will travel up the stem along capillaries and dye the petals (or celery leaves) green! if using the celery, students will be able to see the green water travelling up the capillaries in the stem! A great experiment to observe water transportation around a plant!
Write a St. Patrick’s Day limerick
What is a limerick? It is a form of humorous poetry with the same name as Country Limerick in Ireland. It is a short 5 line poem, which follows a particular rhythm and rhyme. The rhyme follows the pattern AABBA. The first, second and fifth lines rhyme and each have three phrases of three syllables. The third and forth lines also rhyme and have 2 phrases of three syllables. The subject of the poem can be a person, place or object. They are great for reading aloud and performing, so why not have a go at writing them with your class as part of your St Patrick’s Day activities?
Irish dancing
Have a go at Irish dancing! This traditional style of dancing involves fast kicks and flicks of the legs, whilst keeping the upper body still and rigid. The origins of this style of dance are believed to date back to Druids and Celts. Travelling dance teachers, known as Dance Masters, travelled between towns and villages during the 18th century teaching the dance style to the locals. There are many videos on YouTube demonstrating simple steps to get started, so why not get started and try it out with your students?
St Patrick’s Day Word Search
Word searches are great for reinforcing topic vocabulary and so much fun! You can grab your FREE St Patrick’s Day word search here when you join my email list. It is packed with St Patrick’s Day vocabulary to keep your students busy on this holiday! it comes complete with solutions. A great addition to your St Patrick’s Day activities that your students will love!
St Patrick’s Day Mystery Pictures
Mystery pictures are such a fun way to theme any topic but they work particularly well in Math. You can grab these Math Mystery pictures here. Students solve the math question worksheet and shade the numbers in the specified color on the number square to reveal the mystery St. Patrick’s Day picture!
There are six fun printable pictures. These include a leprechaun, pot of gold, rainbow, leprechaun’s hat and a shamrock, for students to discover on the hundred square. Math topics covered include 2-digit addition and subtraction, finding 10 more and 10 less, number sequences and more!
Ireland Country Study
As part of your St Patrick’s Day activities, take the opportunity to learn all about Ireland and its people and culture. An Ireland country study is a great addition to your social studies curriculum. A country study is great to do individually, in pairs or groups or as a research project for homework. You can grab my fun Ireland Country Study here!
Included is a NO-PREP Ireland Powerpoint presentation to teach your class all about Ireland, the capital city, flag, food, language, famous landmarks, St Patrick’s Day and Irish dancing!
Student activity worksheets are also included based on the facts in the Powerpoint. These are all differentiated on two levels to support the different abilities in your class. As well as all this, a fun Ireland word search, a postcard activity and a favorite facts activity are also included.
Your students will love it and it’s the perfect way to learn all about this fascinating country on St Patrick’s Day! Grab your Ireland Country Study here today!