10 St. Patrick's Day Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers
I love St. Patrick’s Day activities because it reminds me that spring is right around the corner! This post will share TEN themed activities I (a former kindergarten and preschool teacher turned stay at home mom) have done with my own three kiddos at home over the years. All of these activities are super simple and should require minimal materials and minimal prep.
Some of these activities are developmentally appropriate for toddlers, while some are better fit for preschool age and I will clarify a general age range with each. They are all easy and achievable for YOU, while still engaging and purposeful for your children! You’ll find easy craft ideas, ways to build fine motor skills, ways to develop early literacy and math skills, and more!
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Let’s get started!
1. Beaded Shamrock Thread & Count
Materials Needed:
- foam shamrocks
- pony beads
- sharpie
- pipe cleaners
- tape
Write numbers with black sharpie on the foam shamrocks and tape pipe cleaners to the back of each one. Put coordinating colored pony beads in a small bowl or container for threading.
This activity is great for counting and one-to-one correspondence but also for building fine motor skills. This counting piece of this activity is geared toward preschoolers around age 3-5 (always monitor when using small objects) but the threading is great for all young children!
To simplify the activity and use for younger children, leave the numbers off and have them work on color matching by threading the coordinating-colored beads onto each pipe cleaner.
2. Clover Count & Number Match
Materials Needed:
- green construction paper
- scissors (for prep only)
- gold coins
- dot stickers
- black sharpie
Trace a foam shamrock or draw a shamrock onto 5 pieces of green construction paper and cut them out. Write numbers 1-5 on each of the shamrocks and trace the coordinating number of coins to make circles on each one. Place dot stickers on each coin with the numbers 1-5 written on them (1 with the number 1, 2 with the number 2, 3 with the number 3, and so on).
Have children (ages 3-5) work on number recognition, counting, and spatial awareness by placing the coins with the matching numbers in the circles on each shamrock.
3. Fingerprint Shamrock Art
Materials Needed:
- white cardstock
- scissors (for prep only)
- washable ink pads
- activity tray (optional)
For this activity, trace or draw a clover onto a piece of white cardstock paper and cut it out. Have toddlers decorate the shamrock by stamping their fingers into ink pads and making different colored fingerprints all over it. You could also use washable tempera paint if you’re feeling brave. ;) Both are very reliably washable, but the ink pads are just slightly less messy!
This easy craft idea is fun for any age!
4. Lucky Letters Sensory Play
Materials Needed:
- dyed rice (optional)
- plastic coins
- sharpie
- Oh Hey Let’s Play with Spring Themes activity book (available 2/17/25)
This page from my reusable Spring-Themed activity book (available 2/17/25) allows for so many different letter recognition activities! The way we are using it here is paired with a sensory bin. I dyed white rice green (you can see my directions on how I do this in this post here) and decided to permanently turn some of my plastic coins into letter manipulatives by writing directly on them with sharpie. I’d used them for enough activities and still had enough plain coins left over that I was comfortable doing this.
I hid the coins in the bin of rice and encouraged my preschooler to dig through the rice for “treasure.” As he found a letter, he would name the letter and place it on the matching cauldron in the activity book. For older children, you could write lowercase letters on the coins, and/or also have them say the sound the letter makes.
This activity is great for ages 3-5.
Here is a list of all themes included in the spring activity book:
- St. Patty’s Day Play
- Rad Rainbows
- Everything Easter
- Rainy Days
- Fun with Flowers
- “B” is for “Bugs”
Click here to learn more! (available 2/17/25)
5. Rainbow Shamrock Dot
Materials Needed:
- large piece of white easel paper
- tape
- markers
- dot markers
I used my favorite Mr. Sketch markers to draw a large shamrock on a piece of white easel paper. I used each color of the rainbow to continue drawing the same shape inside itself. Provide coordinating colored dot markers for children to dot along each shamrock outline creating a beautiful masterpiece!
This is a great color matching and hand-eye coordination activity for toddlers but would also be a fun art activity for preschoolers or even kindergartners!
6. Shamrock Color Words
Materials Needed:
- dyed rice (optional)
- colored pom poms
- fine motor tweezers
- Oh Hey Let’s Play with Spring Themes activity book (available 2/17/25)
Here is another fun, open-ended page from my reusable spring-themed activity book (available 2/17/25). To use this page for toddlers, you can set it up similarly to what you see here. Rainbow-colored pom poms in a sensory bin, or even just in a bowl or sitting out on the table on their own. Pair it with some fine motor tweezers or small tongs, and you have yourself a perfect fine motor/color matching and sorting activity for toddlers age 2-4 (always supervise young children with pom poms)!
To use this page with preschoolers and kindergartners, have them use a dry erase marker to practice tracing the color words. I have even used this page as a way to practice reading the color words by writing each word on a piece of painter’s tape, and having them read the word, and stick it to the matching shamrock.
Here is a list of all themes included in the spring activity book:
- St. Patty’s Day Play
- Rad Rainbows
- Everything Easter
- Rainy Days
- Fun with Flowers
- “B” is for “Bugs”
Click here to learn more! (available 2/17/25)
7. Cookie Cutter Clover Stamp
Materials Needed:
- large, white easel paper
- washable tempera paint
- clover shaped cookie cutter
Stamping with cookie cutters is such a fun and easy process art activity! I used small paper plates for the paint and helped spread it around with the cookie cutters before handing them over to my toddler. We used green and yellow and I designated one cookie cutter for each color of paint.
Simply have your toddler dip the clovers into the paint and then stamp it all over the paper! I would recommend this activity for ages 2 and up.
8. Shamrock Letter Hunt
Materials Needed:
- foam shamrocks
- sharpie
- magnetic letters
- cauldron
Here is another fun way to work on letter recognition that will get your preschooler up and moving around! We did this in our kitchen but a living room or playroom would work too. I put magnetic letters in a plastic cauldron and placed foam shamrocks with letters written on them all around the floor.
Children can pull a letter out of the cauldron, name the letter, and then find the coordinating shamrock on the floor to place it on top of. Repeat until all the letters are matched up. This activity is recommended for ages 3-5 and can be modified by adding lowercase letters, and having children also say the letter sound.
9. Shamrock Names
Materials Needed:
- foam shamrocks
- sharpie
- magnetic letters
This is a fun activity for toddlers and preschoolers who are learning the letters in their name. Write each letter in their name on a foam shamrock and lay them out in order. Provide them with the coordinating magnetic letters or other letter manipulatives (letters written on plastic coins would work too). Have them name each letter and sort/match them onto the coordinating shamrocks.
Children can start working on recognizing and matching the letters in their name as early as 18 months and can still be learning this skill up through age 3-4. Once they’ve mastered these letters as uppercase, you can introduce them to and have them start matching them with the lowercase letters as well.
10. Leprechaun Soup
Materials Needed:
- large, shallow storage tub (Dollar Tree or Target)
- water
- green food coloring
- plastic coins
- foam shamrocks
- plastic scoops and spoons (Dollar Tree)
Here is an activity that is fun for all ages - and if you have more than one child, it’s a great way for siblings to play together! Just put some water in a shallow storage tub and add some green food coloring, plastic coins, foam shamrocks, spoons, scoops, bowls, etc.
If you’re worried about spills, place a towel underneath the bin and keep a smaller hand towel handy. If you’re worried about a younger toddler trying to dump the bin or pouring water outside the bin, this is a great time to practice setting boundaries and holding the boundaries. Make sure to set clear expectations for the water and the bin, and if something happens outside those expectations, you can take the bin away and say the activity is all done. Let them know that they can try again later but the water needs to stay in the bin.
I hope you found these ideas helpful! Be sure to save this post by pinning to your Pinterest, and please tag me on social media if you try and/or share any ideas inspired by this post! Follow along on Instagram for all my latest content, and be sure to also check out this post with 14 Rainbow Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers!
