St. Patrick’s Day is a fun transition into springtime, which oftentimes means more outside play for students as well as being the halfway point for the second semester. Below are some speech and language ideas for activities to engage your students with during this point in the school year.
Preschool age: This age group has always been the most fun to work with for me as they are always willing to try anything at least once! Crafts are a big hit, so I oftentimes do a Lucky Charm cereal activity to create a rainbow using the cereal pieces and clouds using the marshmallow pieces. We are able to target following directions, describing, comparing and contrasting, counting, social problem-solving, etc with this activity.
K-2: This is my absolute favorite age range to target narrative development with using classic children’s books, so every year I use the book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover in which we target story elements, story retelling, vocabulary development, and expressive language activities. Kids also enjoy going on a leprechaun hunt where each student colors or creates their own leprechaun craft and takes turns hiding it around the room and giving each other clues as to where it is located. This activity targets social language skills, comprehension, following directions, and expressive language, such as describing.
3-5: This age group still enjoys doing some of the activities targeted towards younger ages; however, I also like to incorporate more complex activities with this age group, such as vocabulary or main idea and detail. This can be targeted by having students research the history of St. Patrick’s Day and presenting their findings to the group. Another activity I’ve used in the past includes having students come up with a themed recipe to celebrate the holiday and having them write it out to target to-do lists and provide visual structure.
St. Patrick’s Day can be a fun holiday to celebrate with your students as it indicates the beginning of spring and the upcoming end of the school year!
Author: Griffin Parrott M.Ed, CCC-SLP