My DIY St. Patrick’s Day Preschool Unit
I put together this fun preschool unit for Saint Patrick's Day and shipped a set over to our toddler nephew who lives several states away, so he could do "preschool across the miles" with us. Not sure if it'll be us moms or the kids will enjoy it more, but I wanted to share all the goodies I compiled so others could join in too!
I used a bunch of printables (some free, some purchased) from Pre-K Printable Fun, ABC's of Literacy, Gift of Curiosity, Simple Everyday Mom and Preschool Play & Learn. I laminate most so we can keep reusing them and they hold up to my 3yr old's "I can wreck anything with these" hands.
I found this FABULOUS butter slime recipe that all our smalls just love. The consistency is like taffy, but it doesn't stick to things and is very easy to make. Better than play dough because it doesn't crumble or dry out if it's stored airtight and is easy to roll out & shape. I made it with green air dry clay and used a green apple scented activator to theme it for St. Patrick's Day:
I cut some shamrock shapes from card stock and stuck glue dots all over them so the kids could peel off the bits of paper and stick pom poms to make some plush shamrocks:
I got some bags of holiday themed foam stickers and glittery foam shamrocks for them to add to some foam craft sheets (all found at Hobby Lobby) that can be cut into wreaths or ornaments or photo frames:
Some shamrock scratch art cards from Hobby Lobby too, since they are fun and non-messy:
I found this adorable wind-up St. Patrick foam craft kit on Amazon. It is SO hard to find actual saint-themed projects for the holiday so this sucked me in as soon as I saw it. He's even got a snake!! I didn't need a dozen of them, but this wasn't a project I could easily DIY given the wind-up mechanism and detailing. I also figured it'll be fun enough to do again next year with the extra ones:
Coins and plastic pots of gold from the dollar store to use for counting/markers for the activity cards and adding...
with cut up some bits of the deco mesh rope, extra pom poms & some plastic scoops to do a St. Patrick's Day sensory bin:
I also found a nice assortment of books on Amazon that looked fun and educational (and reasonably priced). I sent one to my nephew and got all these for my smalls. I especially liked having some that share the real info about St. Patrick and was able to get a few in board book format so my 3yr old can't destroy them easily either.
I'm really excited for our holiday unit and having my nephew experience it with us hundreds of miles away. I hope these ideas help keep other toddler busy too!
