Celebrate the vibrant culture of Wales with these fun and educational St. David’s Day activities for EYFS! From exploring Welsh traditions to crafting daffodils and trying delicious Welsh cakes, these activities will help children develop key skills while learning about this special day.
Blossom’s Recommended St. David’s Day Activities for Early Years:
Activity 1: Make Paper Daffodils
Provide yellow and green paper, scissors, and glue for children to craft their own daffodils, the national flower of Wales.
They can create simple flowers by cutting and folding the paper into petals and attaching them to green stems.
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Creating with Materials:
- Crafting daffodils encourages creativity and fine motor skills.
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- Children explore colours and textures while designing their flowers.
- Creating with Materials:
- Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Cutting, folding, and glueing enhance precision and hand control.
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Understanding the World
- People, Culture and Communities:
- Learning about daffodils connects children to Welsh culture.
- People, Culture and Communities:
Activity 2: Bake Mini Welsh Cakes
Involve the children in making traditional Welsh cakes. Let them help measure ingredients, mix the dough, and use cutters to shape the cakes. Cook the cakes on a griddle (with supervision), and enjoy them together as a treat.
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Mixing, rolling, and cutting dough strengthens hand muscles.
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Mathematics
- Number:
- Measuring ingredients introduces counting and number recognition.
- Numerical Patterns:
- Comparing quantities supports early pattern recognition.
- Number:
- Understanding the World
- The Natural World:
- Discussing ingredients teaches children about food and cooking.
- The Natural World:
Activity 3: Create a Welsh Flag
Provide children with black, red, and green paper or crayons to create their own version of the Welsh flag, complete with the iconic red dragon. You can provide templates or encourage freehand creativity.
Another option is to roll out a large piece of paper on the ground, and draw a very rough Welsh flag on it. Your children can then tear up red, green and white tissue paper and glue it on in the shape of the flag.
If you don’t fancy your drawing skills, simply print out a flag (small) for the children to copy. Then it’s on them if it looks nothing like the original!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Creating with Materials:
- Designing the flag promotes creativity and understanding of symbols.
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- Personalising their flag encourages individual expression.
- Creating with Materials:
- Understanding the World
- People, Culture and Communities:
- Learning about the Welsh flag fosters cultural awareness.
- People, Culture and Communities:
- Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Colouring and cutting develop coordination and precision.
- Fine Motor Skills:
Activity 4: Learn a Simple Welsh Song
Teach the children a simple Welsh song or rhyme, like “Ar Hyd y Nos” (All Through the Night). Add props or hand movements to make it interactive and engaging.
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Communication and Language
- Listening, Attention and Understanding:
- Following along with the song improves listening skills.
- Speaking:
- Singing in Welsh introduces new sounds and words.
- Listening, Attention and Understanding:
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- Performing the song fosters creativity and confidence.
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
Activity 5: Create a Leek Craft
Provide green and white paper for children to create their own leek crafts, another symbol of Wales. They can roll paper into stalks and cut out fringed leaves to attach to the top.
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Creating with Materials:
- Crafting leeks encourages creativity and dexterity.
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- The activity inspires pride in their creations.
- Creating with Materials:
- Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Cutting and rolling paper strengthens finger and hand control.
- Fine Motor Skills:
Activity 6: St. David’s Day Role Play
Set up a role-play area with traditional Welsh costumes, toy sheep, and a pretend market. Encourage children to “sell” or “buy” leeks, daffodils, and Welsh cakes in their market.
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Building Relationships:
- Role play fosters teamwork and collaboration.
- Managing Self:
- Taking on roles builds confidence and independence.
- Building Relationships:
- Understanding the World
- People, Culture and Communities:
- Role play introduces children to Welsh traditions and daily life.
- People, Culture and Communities:
- Communication and Language
- Speaking:
- Talking about their roles develops conversational skills.
- Speaking:
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- Taking part in simple pretend play using an object to represent something else.
- Being Imaginative and Expressive:
Activity 6: Sensory Play with Daffodils and Soil
Set up a sensory tray with soil, artificial or real daffodils, and gardening tools. Let children explore planting and arranging daffodils in the soil while discussing how plants grow.
If you plan ahead, your older children can plant daffodil bulbs in winter and come back on St. David’s Day to see if they’ve bloomed – a great STEM activity!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Understanding the World
- The Natural World:
- Exploring soil and flowers introduces basic gardening concepts.
- The Natural World:
- Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Digging, scooping, and planting strengthen hand coordination.
- Fine Motor Skills:
- Communication and Language
- Speaking:
- Talking about their sensory experience builds descriptive vocabulary.
- Speaking:
Activity 7: Outdoor Daffodil Hunt
If you’ve got outdoor grounds to explore, a daffodil hunt can be a great way to identify plants (well, daffodils anyway) and get recognising colours too.
It’s pretty simple – just go out looking for daffodils! Send the kids out (with supervision of course) to look for the national flower of Wales and sign of spring, to get them following instructions with a dash of independence too. For extra learning, ask them to count the ones they find!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development and Early Learning Goals:
- Understanding the World
- The Natural World:
- By identifying a daffodil correctly, children can start to distinguish between different flowers and plants and learn about lifecycles. They’ll also learn a little about one of the seasons.
- The Natural World:
- Maths
- Number:
- Counting the daffodils and comparing counts showing the relation between numbers.
- Number:
- Communication and Language
- Listening, Attention and Understanding:
- Taking instructions and following them without constant prompting.
- Listening, Attention and Understanding:
These St. David’s Day activities for EYFS are a wonderful way to celebrate Welsh culture while supporting children’s development across all EYFS Areas of Learning. From crafting daffodils and Welsh flags to baking mini Welsh cakes and learning Welsh songs, these activities engage little learners in hands-on, meaningful fun.
For UK nurseries and early years providers, these activities are perfect for fostering cultural awareness, creativity, and teamwork in young learners. Let the St. David’s Day celebrations begin!
