A Fun, Expressive Activity Kids for St. Patrick’s Day

A Fun, Expressive Activity Kids for St. Patrick’s Day

A Fun, Expressive Activity Kids for St. Patrick’s Day

Katie Taylor, CCLS Child Life On Call for SmileMakers Inc

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is known for its pots of gold, green shamrocks and rainbows. This colorful holiday in the midst of a pandemic can remind us that small, yet somewhat silly, things are worth celebrating if it brings a smile to someone's face.

So let's use this holiday as a reason to talk about our feelings and emotions with our kids and patients. You can guide the child to identify different groups of people (friends, family, health care professionals) in this activity if warranted.

Here's a fun, easy-to-follow activity to do with the kids in your life. Our goals in this activity are to build self-esteem, identify positive traits in other in an effort to build empathy and extend emotional vocabulary.

St. Patrick's Day

Here is what you need:

  • Construction Paper (multi-colored + green and white)
  • Scissors
  • Markers
  • Hole punch
  • Glue Stick
  • optional: SmileMakers St. Patrick's Day and Rainbow Stickers for decoration!
St. Patrick's Day

Here is what you do:

  1. Draw 5-10 coins on yellow paper and write your NAME and close family or friends' names on each coin (One coin says "Katie" the next coin says "dad"). Cut them out.
  2. Glue coins on black construction paper. These are your coins in the pot of gold. (Cut into a pot shape if you'd like!) Punch 4 holes in a line on the bottom of your pot.
  3. Cut out long 2 inch strips of red, orange, blue and green paper. Punch a hole at the top of one of the short ends.
  4. On the red paper, write what you LOVE about YOU and a person on the coins. "Mom always reads a book with me."
  5. On the orange paper, write something KIND about YOU and a person on the coins. "My teacher always asks me how I feel."
  6. On the blue paper, write something that makes you laugh about YOU and the person on the coins. "My sister has the silliest dance move."
  7. On the green paper, write things in your life that make you feel LUCKY.
  8. Tie a string from the hole in the pot to each color.
  9. Decorate the pot of gold with fun SmileMakers stickers!
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day

This activity not only facilitates conversations about feelings, traits and experiences, but promotes creativity for children. When I did this activity with my son, after we finished, he immediately asked to keep creating with construction paper, glue and markers. Download the PDF to this activity here.

2021-02-04 17:21:00 14 viewed
Loading...