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6 St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

I am not crazy about storing tons of holiday activities and decorations in the house, especially for the smaller holidays. But I do love providing fun, and educational activities for the kids, especially when the cost less than $2! I grabbed a pack of plastic gold coins for St. Patrick’s Day and used some other items we had in our art closet already to create 6 fun activities for them, I hope you enjoy a couple or all of them with your own little leprechaun.

Shamrock Counting­ A great game for learning you can make up just a few for smaller kids to count and match numbers or on up for older children. I cut simple shamrock shapes from green construction paper and used a sharpie to mark numbers. Keep it simple and just have them match the number of coins to the number on the shamrock, or call out numbers and have them cover them with a coin to practice recognition. Have older children? Instead of a single number write a math problem, call out the answer and have them place a coin on the corresponding math sentence, you could also use them for writing out sight words.

Rainbow Sensory Bin­ The first thing I did to introduce the coins was to create a mini sensory bin, toddlers and preschoolers love even the simplest of sensory bins. Besides the gold coins use what you have on hand­ rainbow colored pompoms and chenille stems (pipe cleaners), colorful crayons, puzzle pieces, or anything else you might have. Include spoons for transferring and cups or bowls for filling and dumping.

Rainbow Stencils­ Use the coins as a stencil to make pieces of artwork as well as practice fine motor skills, and color recognition.Provide your child with a lot of beautiful rainbow colored markers or crayons to make a colorful piece. St. Patty’s Stacking­ Take turns stacking coins to see how high of a tower you can make. This is great for hand eye coordination, fine motor, as well as practice in taking turns­all valuable skills for tots and preschoolers.So Lucky Store­ We set up a pretend store with rainbow and other items from around the house. I made simple price tags and had the children “buy” items from me­ practicing counting. You could adapt this for older children as well by writing different amounts like $1, $5, $10, and $20 on the coins and tags, make change and add more than one item. ( You may need more than one bag of coins for this).

Hide and Seek Fortune­ This is a great activity to get the kids moving and exploring whether you hide them inside or out. Tuck coins so they peek out from under potted plants and rugs,In the refrigerator, taped to the fridge, etc. Have them count them off as they find each one. Give hotter and warmer clues as they search.

What other activities can you come up with for this inexpensive item?

You might also like these ideas:

St Patricks Day Craft for kids ~ Leprechaun Gold

Shamrock Plate, Easy Kids Craft

Shamrock Prints ~ Easy Kids Crafts for St. Patrick’s Day

Free Printable St. Patrick’s Day Flags

Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint Grasshopper Pie 

 St. Patrick’s Day themed sheets of Jamberry nail wraps

Rainbow Seeds Free Printable Bag Topper for a St. Patrick’s Day Treat

If you like these ideas make sure you follow our St. Patrick’s Day Treats and Fun pinterest board for more ideas.

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