Bring the Irish luck into your early years setting with these fun and engaging St. Patrick’s Day activities for EYFS! From rainbows and leprechauns to shamrocks and coins, these activities will help children develop lots of key skills whilst also celebrating and learning about the day.
Blossom’s Recommended St. David’s Day Activities for Early Years:
Activity 1: Shamrock Crafts
Learn about this lucky symbol by getting creative. There are a range of creative activities you could provide such as marble paint rolling, shamrock suncatcher making, collaging and finger painting.
For the marble paint rolling, provide paper cut outs of shamrocks and different shades of green paint. Add these cut outs to a shallow tray along with the paint and marbles. The children can then roll the marbles around to create patterns on their shamrocks!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Expressive Arts and Design (Creating with Materials)
- Physical Development (Fine Motor Skills)
- Understanding the World (People, Culture and Communities)
Activity 2: Irish Music and Dancing
Play some traditional Irish music to the children and encourage them to move to the beat. Provide green, white and orange sensory scarves too for the children to shake, wave and swirl as they dance.
For an extra challenge, why not introduce some simple Irish dance steps!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Expressive Arts and Design (Being Imaginative and Expressive)
- Physical Development (Gross Motor Skills)
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Building Relationships)
Activity 3: Rainbow Sensory Tray
Set up a vibrant rainbow sensory tray for the children to explore. For a more messy sensory tray, use coloured shaving foam, or for a less messy activity simply use coloured rice, pasta or pom poms.
Arrange whichever sensory material you choose in a rainbow pattern and add scoops, tweezers and pots for sorting and pouring. Encourage the children to talk about the colours they see as they play.
To extend the activity, hide a few gold coins in the rainbow too and let the children count how many they find!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Physical Development (Fine Motor Skills)
- Communication and Language (Speaking)
- Mathematics (Number)
Activity 4: Gold Coin Treasure Hunt
Hunt for lucky gold coins! Get some gold coins, these could be plastic or printed out, and hide them around the setting both indoors and outdoors.
Think of clues for some of the hiding places such as ‘You’ll find a gold coin where we read lots of stories’. Encourage the children to work in groups to find all the coins!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Physical Development (Gross Motor Skills)
- Communication and Language (Listening, Attention and Understanding)
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Building Relationships)
Activity 5: St. Patrick’s Day Story Time
Read some stories about St. Patricks Day, such as ‘How to Catch a Leprechaun’ which will introduce the children to Leprechauns the mythical creatures associated with St. Patrick’s Day, or ‘Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Crayons’.
Add some prop enhancements such as a leprechaun’s hat to your provision to encourage role play after reading the stories!
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Literacy (Comprehension)
- Expressive Arts and Design (Being Imaginative and Expressive)
- Communication and Language (Speaking)
Activity 6: Rainbow Experiment
Enjoy a STEM activity with a St. Patrick’s Day twist, in the form of a rainbow experiment! Experiments are great for sparking awe and wonder amongst children. One experiment to try is the ‘milk rainbow’ and to do this all you need is milk, dish soap, food colouring, a cotton bud and a shallow dish.
Simply add the milk to the dish, then add one drop of each rainbow colour. Get your cotton bud and dip it in some dish soap and then into the milk and watch what happens to the drops of food colouring!
Ask the children open-ended questions as you do the activity such as ‘what do you think is going to happen?’. Can they describe what actually happens?
EYFS Areas of Learning and Development:
- Understanding the World (The Natural World)
- Communication and Language (Listening, Attention and Understanding)
- Physical Development (Fine Motor Skills)
These St. Patrick’s Day activity ideas are a great way to learn about and celebrate Irish culture while supporting children’s development across various areas of the EYFS. From sensory play and crafts to treasure hunts and dancing, your early years children will have a lot of fun learning about this Irish holiday!
