Leprechauns and Shamrocks!

After playtime we started the morning with our Wiggle Song using our left and right feet and arms. The children did much better this week. Then we moved over to the weather board and they also knew today's weather. One asked "Why is it still winter?", and everyone seemed to want to know the answer to that!

Instead of starting with a book today, I talked about symbols of St. Pat's Day. We had a large leprechaun hanging on our chalkboard that the children thought was a "clown". I told them a few things about tricky leprechauns and we talked about rainbows, pots of gold and shamrocks. 

Next we put together a four piece leprechaun puzzle and glued it to a sheet of yellow paper. Then we flipped the sheet over [a new concept for most of the children] and used 3 hearts to create a shamrock on the back.

Now it was time for a story! We read Good Luck! A St. Patrick's Day Story by Joan Holub. 

 

The children enjoyed following the chase for the green ant and guessing if he'd ever get caught. The clues along the way allowed us to again discuss St. Pat's Day symbols. The children also had fun finding other things that they recognized in the pictures.

We then got to play St. Pat's Bingo! A good game for recognition of the symbols we'd been discussing and learning to recognize a completed straight row and shout, "BINGO!".  There were also lots of prizes that were won.

As I turned to walk away from the table I noticed that a leprechaun must have visited while we were busy and he put a treasure box at the end of our rainbow. When I opened it there was no gold, but there were foil-wrapped chocolate coins to for everyone. What a "sweet" end to the morning!