Free Leprechaun Activities

February 24, 2017 by lauraschachter@gmail.com (Edit)

These free leprechaun activities are sure to make your St. Patrick’s Day a magical time! Prep them now and you will be all set for some St. Patrick’s Day learning fun. What is more magical than leprechauns, pots of gold, & rainbows? Use these free leprechaun activities to get kids excited about learning math with leprechauns!

Free Leprechaun Activities

 I have two freebies to share with you! These free leprechaun activities are great for young kids, because they involve lots of interaction and hands-on learning. Kids learn best through “doing”, so these activities are sure to be a hit! Get your free leprechaun activities here.

Leaping Leprechauns Subtraction Poem

Close your eyes and picture a leaping leprechaun. The picture that comes to my mind is a joyful, mischievous being- not unlike both of my spirited kids! Poetry is the perfect medium to convey the whimsical nature of the leaping leprechaun.

“Five” as a Benchmark

I love using addition and subtraction poems based around the number five and number ten. Five and ten are the perfect benchmarks for young children, because they correspond to the number of fingers on one and both hands. Children easily pick up that they have 5 fingers on one hand and 10 fingers included on both hands.  It is a natural and real-world way to get kids comfortable with 5 and 10. By consistently working with fives and tens, you are helping kids create a solid mathematical base.  Through the years, I’ve created a ton of “FIVES” based poetry that you can use with your kids.  See more blog posts with “Fives” poetry in action here.  You can get the “Fives” poetry packs here.

The poem begins with 5 leaping leprechauns. In each stanza of the poem, the leprechauns encounter St. Patrick’s Day themed items. At the end of each stanza, one leprechaun leaves the poem.  It’s a really fun way to explore the theme of leprechauns and reinforce counting backwards and beginning subtraction.

Interactive Poetry

The poem comes in both color and black & white, along with pictures to use as visual cues. Write the poem on sentence strips and use in a pocket chart, display with a document camera, or just read it aloud.  Use the pictures to sequence the poem, identify matching words in the poem, to retell the story, or put on a ring for a quick and easy St. Patrick’s Day word wall.

Leaping Leprechauns Number Line Activities

The next free leprechaun activity is one of my absolute favorites! Kids need to move. This math game is perfect for getting them up and moving, while they are involved in meaningful learning activities.  This pack includes numerals to create a large “walkable” number line, as well as, small number lines to use at their seats.

Build Number Sense With Movement

Kids are able to actually move up and down the number line by moving their bodies. It is a great activity for kinesthetic learners and young children, because they are able to experience the placement of number lines by moving up and down the number line. They are building number sense by physically interacting with the number line. Priceless.

 Focus Wands

Leprechauns are all about magic, so use it! This pack also includes large and small focus wands. Focus wands are really great for directing focus to a specific numeral. The hole in the wand directs the student’s eye to the targeted numeral. It is especially useful with children who have difficulty focusing their attention.

The large and small focus wands fit the numerals on the large and small number lines. One student can demonstrate on the large number line, while the rest of the class completes the same activity on the personal number lines.  It is a great way to keep the class engaged! This blog post explains exactly how I use this set.

More St. Patrick’s Day Learning Activities

Leprechauns are so much fun! Hope you found some ideas that you can use with your own kids. Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day ideas?  Check out some other St. Patrick’s Day resources here.

St. Patrick’s Day Portable Word Walls

Portable word walls are a great way to explore themes! Grab this set of March word walls to enhance your home or classroom.

March Portable Word Walls

Sight Word Fluency Fun

Practice sight words with this set of editable games!

Editable Sight Word Fluency Games

St. Patrick’s Day Math Scavenger Hunts

There are so many uses for the cards in this set- use for memory, “WAR”, scavenger hunts, or anything else you dream up!  Save some egg cartons to use as ten frames and kids can draw a card and build the number on the ten frame.   See the egg cartons in action here.  It’s a great way to make ten frames concrete.

St. Patrick’s Day Math Scavenger Hunts

Alphabet Scavenger Hunts

You can use these cards for a letter hunt, memory, matching upper and lower case letters, and so many other ways.  Check out the different ways I use these cards here.

St. Patrick’s Day Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Free Focus Wands

As a last treat, head over and pick up a variety of free focus wands here!

 

 

DIY: Frog and Toad Long & Short Vowel Center

DIY: Frog and Toad Miniatures

February 16, 2017 by lauraschachter@gmail.com (Edit)

Frog and Toad Container Creations

Create your own set of Frog and Toad containers to use with a FREE set of long and short vowel activities. This DIY post includes easy directions to create your own set of containers. Head over to this post to grab your own set of free long and short vowel printables and hands-on activities.

Creating Frog and Toad Phonics Manipulatives

You will need:

• Hot glue gun & hot glue
• Foam, construction paper, or felt
• Googly eyes
• Pipe cleaners
• X-acto knife or sharp scissors

DIY: Frog and Toad Directions:

1.  Use the X-acto knife or sharp scissors to cut a u-shape on the top of the icing containers.
2. Hot glue foam or paper around the icing container. I used green foam for frog and scrapbook paper for toad.
3.  Hot glue the same foam or paper onto the icing container top. 
4.  Cut out the shape to cover the cut out on the top. Cut a small slit in the middle of the shape.
5. Insert the pipe cleaner into the hole.
   
6.  Hot glue the mouth onto the icing container top and roll the pipe cleaner into a tongue.
   
7.  Cut out shapes for the eyes. Hot glue the shapes together and hot glue the googly eyes on top of the shapes.
8. Hot glue the eyes to the back of the icing container top. Glue a strip of foam or paper around the edge of the top.
9.  Add the labels to the front of the frog and toad.
   

 

 

 

10.  You are ready to use Frog and Toad!

 

 

Now that you have your new Frog and Toad Container Creations, head over to my TeachersPayTeachers shop and download the free set of printables, activity, and sorts! Check it out here and have fun with all the long and short vowel fun!!