12 Coolest Kid St. Patrick's Day School Games & Activities

12 Coolest Kid St. Patrick’s Day School Games & Activities

Need to keep  your little leprechauns busy on or around St. Patrick’s Day? Here are some classroom or home games and crafts to help your small shamrocks from preschool to 6th grade rock out St. Paddy’s Day. Enjoy!

St. Patrick’s Day Books & Activities for Kids

PRESCHOOL, KINDERGARTEN & 1ST GRADE

1. Build a Leprechaun Game

Build a Leprechaun

What you will need:

  • Print this PDF file {Build a Leprechaun} for each child. Laminate and cut out pieces.
  • Dice

Directions: Roll the dice to see which part of the leprechaun you get to build first. See the guide to determine which piece to use for each number rolled. If you roll a number for a piece you already have, you must pass to the next player. The first person to collect all 6 pieces first wins.

2. Find the Coin Game

What you will need:

  • Coin

Directions: First select a leprechaun and have her cover her eyes or look away while you hand a coin to one of the other players. Then have all the players sit in a circle with the leprechaun standing in the middle. At “Go,” the seated players begin slyly passing the coin around the circle, being careful to hide the coin from the leprechaun’s view. The coin can reverse direction at any time, and players without the coin can pretend to pass it along to add to the challenge. When the leprechaun thinks she knows who has the coin, she calls “stop” and names her suspect. If the leprechaun guesses right, the 2 players switch places. If not, play continues. Originally from Spoonful.com {here}.

3. Shamrock Streamer Online Game

Try to get to the end of the rainbow to find your pot of gold in this free online kids game–{here} at Kaboose.com. My youngest loved this game!

4. Rainbow Mobile Craft

This St. Patrick’s Day rainbow mobile is colorful and easy. All you need to make it is 1 paper plate, paper streamers in rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple), scissors, craft glue and a piece of ribbon for hanging. Go to Kaboose.com {here} for the full instructions.

2ND, 3RD & 4TH GRADES

1. Leprechaun Relay Race

What you will need:

  • Irish music
  • Tape/CD/MP3 player

Directions: Before the game, collect a list of different Irish dance steps. Divide participants into two teams of even number. Then split each team in two and have each half stand at opposite ends of the room. Demonstrate a couple of the dance moves. Then start the game by calling out a dance move and change them as often as you like. Have the kids complete the dance moves while running from one end to the other and tagging the next opponent. Originally from Spoonful.com {here}.

2. Swipe the Pot of Gold

What you will need:

  • A small “cauldron” pot to hold the coins–(or use a plastic cup and make a handle out of pipe cleaners)
  • Gold “coins” – use gold wrapped candy or real coins.

Directions: Put the coins in the pot, and set the entire ‘pot of gold’ out on the table. Decide who will be “IT” (they’ll be the Leprechaun). The Leprechaun stands by the table with eyes closed and slowly counts to 20 while the kids run off to hide nearby. When the Leprechaun is done counting, s/he will begin looking for the kids while keeping an eye on the pot of gold. To play the game, the children try to dash in and grab the pot of gold before the Leprechaun can touch them. If a child is touched by the Leprechaun s/he is out of the game. The game ends when someone claims the pot of gold without being touched by the Leprechaun. Originally from MommysMemorandum.com {here}.

3. Squigly’s Online St. Patrick’s Day Games

There are some fun games on this site from Differences between picture, story builders and word scrambles. You can find them all here on SuiglysPlayhouse.com {here}.

4. Origami Shamrock Craft

This shamrock can be made with 3 or 4 leaves so you can double up as a four-leaf clover for good luck! Each leaf is simple to make, so with a bit of help even the youngest kids can have a go at this model. You will need 2-3 pieces of origami paper per shamrock. following these instructions from ActivityVillage.co.uk {here}.

5TH & 6TH GRADES

1. St. Patrick’s Day Scrabble

What you will need:

  • Index Cards
  • Paper Bags

Directions: Choose a St. Patrick’s Day word such as: St. Patrick, Shamrock, Leprechaun, Rainbow…. Write the letters of the word on individual index cards. Do this two times, making two sets. Put each set in a brown paper bag. Divide children into teams. Give each team a bag. The first team to decipher what the word in the bag is wins. A variation of the game would be to divide into teams with the same number of children as there are letters in the word. Each child get’s a letter and they must hold onto the card and stand in the proper order to spell the word for all to see. Originally from Kaboose.com {here}.

2. St. Paddy’s Rainbow Balloon Ball

What you will need:

  • Green balloons

Directions: Make two teams. With tape, make a line across the middle of the playing area. Teams cannot pass the line. Blow up one balloon. Teams have to volley the balloon over to the other team (like volley ball), but each time a person touches the balloon they have to say something that is green (tree, shamrock, Ireland, green beans, etc.). If someone messes up and says a wrong word or doesn’t say anything, then they are out. Final team standing wins. Leader can change the color after a few minutes (Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Gold).

3. St. Patrick’s Day Online Trivia Quiz

See if your kids know their St. Patrick’s Day trivia. This fun quiz will teach them a bit of history and background of St. Patrick’s day. To take the quiz on FunTrivia.com go {here}.

4. Shamrock Sprouts Craft/Activity

Make your own shamrock chia pet with these easy to follow instructions from HouseingAForest.com {here}.