Rainbows and Leprechauns

As March comes around everyone starts to get into a frenzy talking about basketball, the warming weather, and Saint Patrick's Day. I have always questioned the reasoning behind celebrating this holiday considering I have no Irish lineage, but I just accepted it for what it was. Finally this year, I wanted to know why we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day - so I did some research. Here are some interesting facts I found that you may find intriguing as well:

-We Should Really Wear Blue-

Saint Patrick himself would have to deal with pinching on his feast day. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade. The color green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.

-Saint Patrick Was British- 

Although he made his mark by introducing Christianity to Ireland in the year 432, Patrick wasn’t Irish himself. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century

-NY Does it the Best-

New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the world’s largest parades. Since 1762, 250,000 marchers have traipsed up Fifth Avenue on foot – the parade still doesn’t allow floats, cars, or other modern trappings.

-It Used to Be a Dry Holiday-

For most of the 20th century, Saint Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday in Ireland, which meant that the nation’s pubs were closed for business on March 17. (The one exception went to beer vendors at the big national dog show, which was always held on Saint Patrick’s Day.) In 1970, the day was converted to a national holiday, and the stout resumed flowing.

-There’s a Reason for The Shamrocks-

How did the shamrock become associated with Saint Patrick? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.

-Cold Weather Helped Saint Patrick’s Legend-

In Irish lore, Saint Patrick gets credit for driving all the snakes out of Ireland. Modern scientists suggest that the job might not have been too hard – according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to any snakes. Through the Ice Age, Ireland was too cold to host any reptiles, and the surrounding seas have staved off serpentine invaders ever since. Modern scholars think the “snakes” Saint Patrick drove away were likely metaphorical.

Thanks to Mental Floss for providing this awesome information. Click the link if you are interested in reading all 15 Delightful Facts About Saint Patrick's Day

This week we spent our time introducing Saint Patrick's Day and studying colors. This post will summarize our time spent exploring Saint Patrick's Day, and some fun activities you can also do with you children at home or in the classroom.

-Math-

Gold in the Pot:

The children explored a few different activities involving numbers, counting, and sorting this week. One of their favorites was coin counting. All you need for this project is a die, a bowl for each player, and coins (in the picture shown we have use yellow construction paper but you certainly may use real money, or even themed coins).

Each child gets a turn to roll the die and count the dots, taking the Leprechauns gold and placing it in their "pot". This activity was very helpful with one-to-one correspondence and can be useful when teaching number recognition if you use a die that has numbers on the face. 

Rainbow Sorting:
Another math activity the child enjoyed during this unit was a color sorting game. Using fruit loops the children received their own handful and were asked to sort them.

Once the children sorted the piles we compared the group sizes using new or familiar language - such as more or less, big or little, short or long, as well as colors. After the activity was finished the children could eat an early morning rainbow snack.  

-Art-

Shamrock Stamping:

We used colors in a lot of fun a different ways in the art area this week. One of the kids favorite activities was pepper stamping. At circle-time, the children used their four of their senses to explore a green pepper. We talked about what it felt like, and what the children thought was inside the pepper. Some guessed more pepper, seeds, and a tiger. Then we proceeded to cut the pepper open to find the answer.

Once the peppers were cut in half the children could explore the green peppers a little more while getting a little messy using paint or even stamp pads to create some really neat pictures. As long as the child hasn't smashed the pepper it should turn out looking like a three leaf clover. 




Rainbow Pictures:
The children, after listening to a tale about a Leprechaun and his gold at the end of a rainbow, were asked what they would keep in their pot. We loved the unique answers the children gave us like, my family, puppies, candy, and many more.

The children were given an example of what a rainbow looks like, and were encouraged to make their own. Some of the children enjoyed taking their time sorting out the colors and making lines of those colors, while others made half circles with all the colors of the rainbows. This activity was fun and smelled delicious too!


Shamrock Sun Catcher:
Another fun activity the children enjoyed, and you can use this activity for any season and any reason, was making sun catchers. This time, we made shamrock sun catchers using green tissue, contact paper, and an outline. The children were given instructions to place the green tissue paper inside of the black outline. This activity really helped the children in understanding spatial awareness. 

Rainbow Bracelet:
The last art activity we enjoyed this week was a bracelet making. Each child was given a bowl full of fruit loops to string onto their bracelet. Some chose to make patterns, others picked at random. This activity was very beneficial to helping the children with their hand-eye coordination, color recognition, and fine-motor skills.

-Science-

Rainbow Rice:

The sensory table is a fun and important area in your classroom, or even at home, and can be very easy to create if you don't have one. All you need is a large bin with sides low enough for the child to comfortably reach into. We use our sensory table nearly every week exploring different materials, cutting, or just containing something that maybe a little messy. 

This week in our sensory table the children played with rainbow rice. All you need are gallon baggies, vinegar, food coloring, paper towels, and rice. Scoop the amount of rice into the individual bags, then add a tablespoon of vinegar and the chosen color to the rice. Using the vinegar helps the rice take in the color and gives you a more vibrant look, you can also use this same technique when coloring noodles and eggs. If the rice is not as bright as you would like, try adding a few more drops of food coloring. Once you have your mixture, close the bag and shake! We had our kids help us make the rice used in this project while talking about measuring and recipes. When the rice is covered and ready to go, make sure you lay the it out to dry before the children play. This is important because the children will smell like vinegar the rest of the day also allows the pigment to dry and keeps your kids hands from turning all sorts of colors.

Planting Seeds:

Last week the greenhouses the children created, while talking about Jack and the Beanstalk, have just started producing sproutlings this week! Hooray!

During circle-time the children made predictions as to what the seeds look like and now and discussed what that seed needed in order to grow more. The children filled their cups with dirt, planted their seed, and watered their plant. 





-Blocks-

Rainbow Roads and Houses:
During this activity the children created their own roads and houses out of blocks for the Leprechaun to live and drive on. We encouraged the children to talk about the colors that they were using to promote color recognition.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks lesson plans and wish you all a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!