Seven Founding Hills

My husband is Irish American, and I enjoy sharing and teaching our kids about his rich culture, through fun Saint Patrick’s day activities in March. This festive occasion provides a wonderful opportunity for us to explore traditional Irish customs, such as singing folk songs, learning about Irish mythology, and even trying our hand at making classic dishes like corned beef and cabbage.

If you’re not familiar with the origin of Saint Patrick’s Day, I highly recommend you read Gail Gibbon’s St. Patrick’s Day book. She gives a brief history of Saint Patrick’s Day and spring Irish traditions in a way that is accessible to all ages.

This March we are doing a short Irish Fairy Tale Unit Study the week before Saint Patrick’s Day. We are reading short stories about Irish Fairy Tales and Legends during breakfast while enjoy scones or sweet Irish soda bread. As we get closer to Saint Patrick’s Day we will enjoy more Saint Patrick’s Day crafts and recipes as a family.

Books About Saint Patrick’s Day and Ireland

Irish Fairy Tales and Legends – Una Leavy

St. Patrick’s Day – Gail Gibbons

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – Abbie Mercer

Fairy Tales of Ireland – W. B. Yeats

Saint Patrick’s Day Activities

Make Irish Soda Bread – All Ages

No yeast required! Irish soda bread requires flour, butter milk, sugar, baking soda, raisins, and salt. Knead the ingredients together and the dough is ready for the oven.

My littles love counting, measuring, and mixing the dough and my middle schooler is independent enough to follow the recipe on his own.

Prepare an Irish Meal – All Ages

Corned beef and cabbage is a classic Irish American dish. It just requires a large pot, seasoned corned beef from the store, a head of cabbage, potatoes, and carrots.

Cook the meat at a slow boil for 4-5 hours and have your kids cut up the veggies.

Other great options are Irish Stew an Sheppard’s Pie

Stories and Scones – All Ages

Last week I read aloud Una Leavy’s Irish Fairy Tales and Legends at our kitchen table during breakfast while the kids enjoyed tea and scones.

My boys loved the stories of brave knights and little people, love and loss, and strange mythical creatures.

Before reading the story, I highly recommend looking up how to pronounce character names. The Irish names in the books didn’t follow English phonetics.

Saint Patrick Scavenger Hunt – 3-8 years old

My kids love scavenger hunts! Give them a brown bag and set them off to bring back every color of the rainbow or 5 green things. I’m always amused by what they bring back.

Saint Patrick’s Day Sensory Bin – 1 – 3 years old

We put green dry rice, gold coins, and black cauldron in shallow dish for sensory play. My 3-year-old liked it the best.

Make a Leprechaun Trap – All Ages

Give your kids craft supplies and cardboard and see what your kids come up with. Since we have a read about leprechauns in Irish Fairy Tales, I will ask them why

Saint Patrick’s Day Clover Craft – All Ages

Four leaf clovers might be lucky, but it is said St. Patrick’s used the three leaf clover to teach the Irish people about the holy trinity.

Clover collages or dot-marker projects are popular for preschool and kindergarteners. I feel like there is a lot of room for experimentation with patterns and monochromatic color pallets for upper elementary, middle schoolers, and high schoolers.

Saint Patrick’s Day Writing Activity – All Ages

This week my middle schooler will write a story about leprechauns as a creative writing assignment. He will be asked to include a lot of detail about how such a tiny people navigate common natural and household items.

I will adapt this assignment to my preschoolers by writing down how they think leprechauns would use common household objects.

How Do You Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day

How does your family celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day? We personally like to celebrate these cultural holidays with good books, a fun activity, and food, but I’m always interested in hearing about new ideas.

If you are interested in how I structured our Irish Fair Tale Unit Study let me know in the comments. I’d be happy to make a blog post about it.