3 Ways to Learn with St. Patrick’s Day Play Dough

by Meghan

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As a mom to three kids spanning toddler to kindergartener, it can be a struggle to find a single activity that engages them all. But this simple holiday play dough set up created the perfect set of St. Patrick’s Day preschool activities to engage my toddler, preschooler and kindergartener all at their own learning levels. See the set-up, supply list and grab your FREE printable St. Patrick’s Day Vocabulary printable at the end of this post.


3 Ways to Learn with St. Patricks Day Play Dough

This is totally inspired by the invitation to create Conversation Hearts play dough set up we made last month. It was such a hit with the girls, they asked if we could do it for EVERY holiday. And so faced with our third snow day in less than a week (this IS March, right???), we whipped up a batch of our favorite play dough.

St. Patrick’s Day Play Dough Recipe

This is the basic play dough recipe I used for our St. Patrick’s Day preschool activities.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1/2 TBSP cream of tarter
Green food coloring
Green glitter (optional)
Wild Orange Essential Oils (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over low to medium heat. I recommend adding the food coloring to the water first, for even color distribution. Stir until no lumps remain. Remove to parchment paper and knead until no longer sticky. I add glitter and wanted a fresh, spring scent so I also added a few drops of wild orange essential oils during the kneading process.


Simple St. Patrick’s Day Invitation to Make Conversation Shamrocks Set-Up

Using our favorite activity tray (aka a plastic Dollar Store appetizer tray), I add the green playdough, rolling pins, alphabet stamps, a few rainbow stamps, and shamrock cookie cutters. I also cut our St. Patrick’s Day Vocabularly printable into squares for reference.

St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Toddler – Stamping Rainbows

For my toddler, the play dough set up is a complete sensory experience. I set him up with a ball of green play dough, with a fresh spring scent. And he smashed it and stamped rainbows in it to his little hearts’ content. He’s thrilled to be a part of whatever activity his sister’s are doing. As long as he has access to all the same materials, he’s happy… but he’s still learning through play, strengthening his fine motor skills, naming a few letters, and counting stamps.

 

St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Activities – Letter Recognition

For my 4 year old, she is working on recognizing all her letters, and beginning to recognize sounds. She’s in the early stages of combining letters to form words. While my kindergartener helped brainstorm the list of St. Patrick’s Day Vocabulary to stamp on the play dough shamrocks, my preschooler used the vocabularly cards to identify the letters in each word, and replicate them on her shamrock. Then, we worked together to sound out the words.

St. Patrick’s Day Activity for Early Readers – Expanding Vocabulary

Every holiday brings with it a whole list of fun new words. This is a great exercise to use with kindergarteners and early readers to expand their vocabulary. My 6 year old named these “Conversation Shamrocks”. But you can use this technique with any vocabulary list or spelling list. It’s a fun way to reinforce and build new vocabulary at any age.

Get your St. Patrick’s Day Vocabulary Printable

My 6 year old helped me come up with this list of St. Patrick’s Day Vocabularly words. Click below to instantly download, print and then cut out and use them to make your own St. Patrick’s Day Early Literacy Activity or build your holiday vocabulary.

More St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Activities

Looking for more ideas to bring St. Patrick’s day fun and festivity into your home? Here are a few of our favorites!

St. Patrick’s Day Game – Pot O’ Gold Coin Toss | Playground Parkbench
St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt for Kids | Sunny Day Family
St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Fun – Search for Gold Under the Rainbow | Playground Parkbench
Roll and Color St. Patrick’s Day Math | Fantastic Fun and Learning
Wee Little Leprechaun Girl Masks | Playground Parkbench
St. Patrick’s Day Slime | Little Bins for Little Hands
Pot O’ Gold Piggy Bank | Playground Parkbench
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activity Sensory Bottle | The Educator’s Spin on It
Shamrock Stamps | Playground Parkbench

You can find all of these and SOOOO many more on our St. Patrick’s Day boards on Pinterest. How does your family celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your kids?

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Work on holiday vocabulary, letter recognition and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Conversation Shamrocks. A simple set up for St. Patrick's Day Preschool Activities #stpatricksday #kidsactivities #earlyliteracy #playdough

 

 

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St. Patrick's Day Activities March 15, 2018 - 9:08 am

[…] Not into worksheets?  Check out these hands on St. Patrick’s Day learning activities. […]

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