A St. Patrick's Day Centerpiece DIY & Classroom FUN!

And It's Mostly From The Dollar Tree!

Click the image for the FREE rainbow activity.

This was so easy to make and cost practically nothing!

I needed to create an ice breaker type activity and I wanted it to have a St. Patrick's Day theme. My thought was to create a pot of gold filled with golden nuggets. I wanted to attach a little ice-breaker question to each golden nugget. The plan was to have each person choose a golden nugget, read the question aloud, and answer it so we could get to know each person a little better.

So, I headed to The Dollar Tree and I found a kettle shaped glass bowl, a sheet of moss, a roll of green glitzy ribbon, a bag of glittery shamrocks & gold coins, and a bag of river rocks. So, I'm in to this for $5 + tax. 

I already had black, yellow, and gold tole paint at home,  and some sticky-backed jewels.

Earlier in the week, I had already painted a little glass bowl green and flipped it upside down to create a little leprechaun hat. 

I embellished it with a hatband made out of black cardstock, golden fun foam, and sticky-back green pearls, so I knew that I could create a pot of gold with a little paint and some rocks. 

First I painted the outside of the glass bowl black. 

Then, I painted the black river rocks yellow. It took 2 coats to cover the black, so you might want to get light colored stones. 

After the last coat dried, I added a top coat of metallic gold paint.

I printed up some ice-breaker questions, but first I rewrote them so they all related to St. Patrick's Day in some way. 

I cut the questions apart into strips and folded them up so they were about 3/4" square. I used glue dots to stick them to the back of each golden nugget, but you can use white glue, Tacky glue, or even hot glue. 

I placed the black pot on the sheet of moss and filled it with the golden nuggets. I also placed some nuggets around the pot. I tied some ribbon to the pot and sprinkled the centerpiece with the glittery shamrocks and glittery golden coins & any other St. Patrick's Day decorations I had in the house. Let me know if you have any questions. :)

Click the image for the FREE rainbow activity.

For classroom teachers...

... who have their students create leprechaun traps, you might want to create a pot of gold and fill it with golden nuggets for your students to find in your classroom. Each child can take home a special golden nugget!

CLICK HERE for the FREE rainbow/color-word activity. 

CLICK HERE for the leprechaun shopping activity. It also comes with a black cat and snowman set too!

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St Patrick's Day Fun & a FREEBIE For AFTER ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

You Can Even Do These AFTER St. Patrick's Day!

Comparing Potatoes on Monday Morning:

Everyone brought in a potato!

After St. Patrick's Day, have your little ones each bring in 1 potato.

In a small group setting, measure them, weight them, compare them, and have your students line up in "potato size" order!

We used "non-standard" units to measure our potatoes. 

You can also use them to create potato prints. 

Leaving Tracks:

You might not have caught that leprechaun, but on Monday morning, you might find his footprints! 

These Sit Spot footprints stick all by themselves!

I have always made these green footprints out of green construction paper, but now I get my re-usable green footprints from Sit Spots. 

They have so many different shapes and colors of Velcro Sit Spots!

You can even write on them and use them to play games. I got rid of my rainbow rug and I used them on the carpet for students to sit on. Sit Spots will send you one for FREE so you can see if they stick to your carpet. 

CLICK HERE

to see all of the Sit Spots that are available. 

And, What Will They Find At The End Of The Trail of Green Footprints?  Leprechaun Pudding' and a RAINBOW FREEBIE!

Make Leprechaun Puddin':

First, check for allergies:
If you have students allergic to milk or lactose, use a milk alternative.
If you have students allergic to ANY NUTS, use vanilla instant pudding 
and a few drops of green food coloring.

Leprechaun Puddin':

 a gallon of milk

 at least 3 large boxes of Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding,
(Only Jell-o brand turns green when the milk is mixed in.)

a clear glass bowl

a large spoon

small paper cups (3-5 oz size)

plastic spoons

a measuring cup.

  

(Off brands don't work as well.  I recommend buying Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding because it starts out white and turns green when the milk is stirred in.)  

DO NOT DO THIS ACTIVITY IF YOU HAVE ANY NUT ALLERGIES IN YOUR CLASS.  There are real pistachios in the pudding.  You can replace the milk with soy milk if you have any dairy allergies.  

While the students are out at recess, open the packages of Jell-o instant pistachio pudding and empty them into a large, clear, glass bowl.  I usually leave green footprints leading to the bowl where we find a note that says "You didn't catch me, but I left you some Leprechaun Puddin'."  

You can find green footprints from Sitspots.com that are made of Velcro so they will stick to most carpets. 

Click Here for the link to the "right footsteps" and 

Click Here for the link to the "left footsteps". 

Just add milk and stir and you will see the magic!"  

As I pour the milk (follow package directions for amount) into the bowl the children will gasp as the white powder turns green!

Stir until it's nice and thick and then spoon some into the cups for the children to enjoy.

Make a Leprechaun Rainbow With This FREEBIE:

Easy, breezy and quick to prep:  You can download it for FREE by clicking Here.

Here is my sample.

Just added this picture of the kids' work.

Click the image to grab the FREE download.  

For each child, you will need:

 1piece of white construction paper (9" X 12") 

 1 piece of each of the following colors cut to 1 1/2" X 9":  

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

Give each child 1 of each of the pieces above and have them cut the white piece into the shape of a cloud.  Then, they glue the colored strips, in order beginning with red, to the bottom of the cloud.  

I had each child trace the color word below and glue it to the end of the matching colored strip.  They also wrote their name on the line in the oval, traced the dotted letters, and glued them to the cloud.  They look so cute in our classroom.  

These look great and can stay up throughout spring and for Open House.  :)

Here is the FREE Download for your color words and cloud label.  Have FUN.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

It's Time For Leprechaun FUN, Leprechaun Puddin', & a Leprechaun Rainbow FREEBIE!

It's Time To Prep Your Leprechaun's Gold Shop:

Now that Mardi Gras is over and everything is on sale...

Grab Some Mardi Gras Beads: 

They should be on close-out now that Mardi Gras is over.  

Use them to stock your Leprechaun Gold Shop and keep it up for a few weeks.  

Stock your shop with plastic jewelry.  My friend made cute store uniforms for the shop clerks to wear.  :)

We just used our puppet stage, but you can also use a small desk.

Since we didn't catch the leprechaun, we set up a Gold Shop where students can "buy" plastic jewelry with plastic gold coins.

You can use real coins for plastic leprechaun gold.

Students take turns being the clerk and the customer.

Integrate counting, sorting, community helpers, and
IMAGINATION!

  When they are done playing, they return the jewelry to the shop so others may play too.

Make Leprechaun Puddin':

First, check for allergies:
If you have students allergic to milk or lactose, use a milk alternative.
If you have students allergic to ANY NUTS, use vanilla instant pudding 
and a few drops of green food coloring.

Leprechaun Puddin':

 a gallon of milk

 at least 3 large boxes of Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding,
(Only Jell-o brand turns green when the milk is mixed in.)

a clear glass bowl

a large spoon

small paper cups (3-5 oz size)

plastic spoons

a measuring cup.

  

(Off brands don't work as well.  I recommend buying Jell-o brand instant pistachio pudding because it starts out white and turns green when the milk is stirred in.)  

DO NOT DO THIS ACTIVITY IF YOU HAVE ANY NUT ALLERGIES IN YOUR CLASS.  There are real pistachios in the pudding.  You can replace the milk with soy milk if you have any dairy allergies.  

While the students are out at recess, open the packages of Jell-o instant pistachio pudding and empty them into a large, clear, glass bowl.  I usually leave green footprints leading to the bowl where we find a note that says "You didn't catch me, but I left you some Leprechaun Puddin'."  

You can find green footprints from Sitspots.com that are made of Velcro so they will stick to most carpets. 

Click Here for the link to the "right footsteps" and 

Click Here for the link to the "left footsteps". 

Just add milk and stir and you will see the magic!"  

As I pour the milk (follow package directions for amount) into the bowl the children will gasp as the white powder turns green!

Stir until it's nice and thick and then spoon some into the cups for the children to enjoy.

Make a Leprechaun Rainbow:

Easy, breezy and quick to prep:  You can download it for FREE by clicking Here.

Here is my sample.

Just added this picture of the kids' work.

Click the image to grab the FREE download.  

For each child, you will need:

 1piece of white construction paper (9" X 12") 

 1 piece of each of the following colors cut to 1 1/2" X 9":  

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

Give each child 1 of each of the pieces above and have them cut the white piece into the shape of a cloud.  Then, they glue the colored strips, in order beginning with red, to the bottom of the cloud.  

I had each child trace the color word below and glue it to the end of the matching colored strip.  They also wrote their name on the line in the oval, traced the dotted letters, and glued them to the cloud.  They look so cute in our classroom.  

These look great and can stay up throughout spring and for Open House.  :)

Here is the FREE Download for your color words and cloud label.  Have FUN.

Saint Patrick's Day.