Sunday, February 16, 2020

St. Patrick's Day Activities for Your Montessori Preschooler

St Patrick Day - Montessori Preschool - Little Wonders Montessori One

How are you celebrating St Patrick's Day with your preschoolers this year? If you haven't planned, now would be a great time to start! On St Patrick's Day, everyone wears green, restaurants serve Irish foods, kids indulge in sweets, and adults enjoy pints of beer at their local pub. In the spirit of Montessori, this is an excellent time to engage in activities that help kids embrace the Irish culture while appreciating diversity in the classroom. With this in mind, here are the top seven fun and educative St Patrick's Day activities that your kid can engage in, both at home and in Montessori Preschool Winnetka!


1. Sing St Patrick's Day Songs

Kids love songs, and there is no better way to teach them about the history of St Patrick's Day than by singing songs that celebrate this Ireland's patron saint. To make it even more fun, the kids can wear green to mimick little leprechauns and make DIY pots of gold. Keep the songs simple and short, and consider taking them outdoors to make the activity even more fun and memorable. If you don't have any St Patrick's Day song ideas for kids, you can check them out on YouTube or come up with a few of your own!

2. Play "If I Were a Leprechaun" Games

In this game, each kid gets to come up with an idea of where they would hide their pot of gold if they were a leprechaun. The game is not only fun but also helps build the kids' imaginative skills. You'll be amazed at the answers kids can give you! One will want to hide their gold at the end of the rainbow, and another will choose their closet!

3. Learn the Alphabet with Plastic Gold Coins

Learning for Montessori preschoolers is more exciting when it involves fun activities such as writing on plastic gold coins. In the spirit of this holiday, you can help your preschoolers learn the alphabet by writing the letters on gold coins and arranging them in the right order. All you need are some coins and marker pens. When you're done, you can read out the alphabet with the kids and display the coins in the literacy center.

4. Play a Gold Pot Dice Game

In this game, all you need is a dice, leprechaun pot, and plastic gold coins. Each kid rolls the dice and places the appropriate number of coins in the pot. You can also make it competitive by dividing the coins equally among the kids. Whoever puts all their coins in the pot first wins the game. This game promotes teamwork while developing the kids' social skills.

5. Use LEGO Bricks to Make Leprechaun Traps

LEGO bricks are great learning and play tools for every classroom in Montessori Preschool Winnetka. Studies show that playing with LEGO bricks helps kids build their spatial abilities by visualizing and planning 3D objects. In this case, the objective is to use these bricks to make traps for the sneaky leprechaun. This is a great indoor activity that helps grow kids' minds while they embrace the Irish holiday.

6. Create a Rainbow Sensory Bin

Rainbows, leprechauns and gold pots are all that St Patrick's Day is about for the kids. This would be a great time to teach them the colors of the rainbow. To do this, you can create a sensory bin with colored corn, colored pasta, water beads, and much more. Let the kids pick out the colors of the rainbow and name them. You can group the kids and have them get and arrange all their colors, with the team getting all the colors becoming the winner!

7. Go Out on a Leprechaun Hunt

St Patrick's Day is not over without a leprechaun hunt. This is a great outdoor activity for Montessori preschoolers as it builds their imagination while allowing them to connect with the environment. In most cases, you don't even have to plan the hunt! Most kids will come up with plans and set up their own hunt. All you have to do is secretly give them hints (footprints, green mulch, and "gold") and watch the hunt unfold! There you have it! These are some exciting activities that kids can engage in as they learn about St Patrick's Day and the Irish culture. To make these activities even more fun and memorable for your child, enroll them in Montessori Preschool Winnetka where they can play and learn with other kids!