I'm working on a short little script to help explain the origin of St. Patrick's day in a way that a child could understand (I have to admit that I didn't know the story! It's pretty neat.)
For now, we're filling our house with shamrocks.
Step One: Fold your paper in half lengthwise.
Step Two: Fold it in half again, the other way.
Step Three: Line up the two folded edges, making a triangle.
Step Four: Cut along the folded edges, starting at about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom and make the leaf shape.
We went ahead and made our shamrocks into a crown because that's what we girls do.
We made jumbo size ones and smaller ones, some with glitter and decoration, some with puff balls in the center...you get the idea. Be creative.
Today I decided to put our shamrocks to use in a colors and numbers game, since that's what I'm focusing on with my two girls.
COLORS:
I cut out shamrocks in a variety of colors and taped them all over my body (I highly recommend getting dressed for the day before you do this; you'll feel better about yourself). I asked my two year old to find the yellow shamrocks, then the red, etc. She thought I looked pretty silly, but it was a fun way to review our colors!
My three year old insisted on helping, so next we taped the shamrocks all over her body, and did it again. This works out really well if you have an older sibling that wants to help and ends up shouting out the answers before the younger one can even think about it.
Get them involved in the teaching! (Hazel would still sneak her finger onto the right color and tap the shamrock until Charlotte caught on and pulled it off proudly.)
Hazel insisted on having the shamrocks on her face...
And she definitely dressed herself this morning.
NUMBERS:
For my preschooler, I wrote the numbers 1-10 onto the shamrocks and taped them onto my toddler! She had to find them in order and tape them onto the floor in a straight line.
Then I asked her to write the numbers on her own, in order,
referring back to the shamrocks for help.
We had a lot of fun with this one and I hope you do too!
I recently found your blog through a friend. I'm always looking for ideas for my little guy. I liked this idea but instead of using clovers I cut out different shapes in different colors then added the numbers. It gave my boy 3 different things to look for. I also stuck them around the house so he could get some energy out by having to run around and look for them. Thanks for the ideas!
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