St. Patrick's Day for Preschoolers - Part 1

St. Patrick's Day activities! A tad bit late yes but it's nothing you didn't expect, right? :) All week I'll be posting about what we did last week to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Now, I do not have any Irish background whatsoever but my dear husband does on his father's side so it made our week all the more significant.  To you all dear readers, but particularly to you in Ireland, a Happy belated St. Patrick's Day.

"Froot Loops" Rainbow & Marshmallows

I know this craft is nothing new. I wouldn't even know who to credit for the idea since I saw it on so many blogs. I must credit We Made That for the template though! I know they used cotton balls for their clouds but I thought marshmallows were going to be just as cute since we were using food already for our rainbow. Now, this is not just a craft! After the rainbow was completed, I did ask Adrian about his use of "Froot Loops". For example, I asked him which color he used the most, the least and why he thought that was. We also counted the cereal, discussed the colors used, etc. A craft doesn't have to be just that. Other facets of learning can very well be involved.

Kid O Green Wooden Puzzle - Narrowest to widest & darkest to lightest

We've had this Kid O puzzle for a few years now and although it is quite basic for Adrian, I still brought it out. Needless to say, it took mere seconds for him to complete it. 

Tweezing green pompoms into green ice "cube" container

Found this ice tray at a local bargain store while we still lived in the United States. First time we use it. I thought it'd be great to bring it out for St.Patrick's Day Week being that it's green! It also happens to be the perfect size for the small pompoms. Add to it Learning Resources' tweezers and you're all set to tweeze pompoms into the tray.

Ireland Lapbook

I've never put together a lapbook. I'm not much of a Lapbook person or worksheet person. Don't get me wrong; I'm a huge nerd and I personally loved them as a child (still so!) but they're a lot of work to put together and they're not that much fun for younger children much of the time. Adrian would much rather handle objects than a piece of paper. Anyhow, being that we were talking about St.Patrick's Day, I gave him bits of information about it through the week but only orally. Towards the end of the week, I finally decided to present an itsy bitsy Lapbook containing 3 sheets: a map of Ireland, a map of Europe showing where Ireland is in position to Germany (where we currently live) and a blank flag of Ireland ready for coloring (with labels at the bottom). We went through it all rather quickly because the interest was not really there. Maps can be printed by visiting DLTK's Coloring and the flag at HomeschoolShare.

Is is Oobleck, is is gak, is it goop? Liquid or solid?

Well although no one seems to agree on the name of this substance...everyone seems to agree on how fun it is! I initially had thought of making green slime for St. Patrick's Day but Borax being difficult to get here made me go with something more natural: Goop! I colored my water with a few drops of green food coloring prior to mixing it in the cornstarch so it would be a nice green in honor of the Patron Saint. If you need instructions on how to make goop, it's pretty simple, I personally just asked Adrian to pour 1 cup of cornstarch into the bowl followed by half a cup of green colored water. I then mixed it with a spoon. It takes a few minutes to mix well so be patient before adding more water. You really won't need more. As for the fun part, Adrian wasn't so sure about plunging his hands into the bowl so I let him stir with the spoon for a bit. Then I demonstrated. I slowly inserted my finger into the goop and then quickly. He thought it was fascinating how goop could be both a liquid and a solid. We let it run through our fingers and then quickly grabbed some and tried to make a ball with it. We also poured from one bowl to another. Hard to do. Almost solid going from one to another yet very liquid looking at the bottom of both! Fascinating!

* * *

St. Patrick's Day - Celebrated on March 17 for over 1,000 years already!

* * *

Your comments make my day ! 

(...but won't be visible until after approval due to increased spam...)

* * *

This week, I'm happily linking up to

Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase,  Tuesday Tots, Preschool Corner &5K, We Made That.