“Leprechauns are like dreams – elusive, magical, and full of surprises.” – Unknown
The book I selected for this month’s topic of St. Patrick’s Day was “How to Catch a Leprechaun” by Adam Wallace. This book hosts a fun story where the leprechaun causes mischief and can’t be caught by clever traps set out to catch him.
The images in the book are very nice, and they drew me in immediately. Using a magnifier, I encouraged my students to look for the gold coins and/or shamrocks on each of the pages. The story led to some great conversations with lots of giggles. How would they catch that naughty leprechaun and then what would they do with him once they caught him?
If you’d like to preview the book before buying, check out the YouTube reading of How to Catch a Leprechaun.
Skill Focus:
- Book knowledge (i.e., title, author, page turning, image walking)
- Use of low vision tools while reading the book
- Hand and eye coordination
- Soliciting assistance appropriately
- Fine motor
- Communication
- Positional concepts
- Choice making
- Creative thinking
Activity 1: St. Patrick’s Day Gnome Shamrock Ornaments
I found these Gnome Shamrock Ornaments on Amazon. The kit makes 24 fun ornaments and contains everything you need. I did remove the “beer” stickers, to ensure it was school and age appropriate. When I opened the kit, I had another student help me sort and organize the pieces into a divided serving tray with removable partitions.
The students were able to select the body, face, and hat to assemble prior to selecting the leprechaun’s accessories. The paper insert that came with the kit contained the only image to refer to. For the students not using their magnifiers, I enlarged the images of the leprechauns for them. I didn’t intend for students to copy the images exactly in their creations, but we used the image for completing the basic shape, and then I encouraged my students to be creative with the accessories.
For this craft, I needed:
Tips:
- Provide glue in case the sticker loses its stickiness.
- Add other stickers to enhance the students’ creativity.
- Invite the student’s OT to join the lesson. This creates a great opportunity to collaborate on developing fine motor skills and share similar language and prompts across a lesson.
- Use the Lite Box to assist in the assembly as needed.
- Use a desk lamp to light the work area as needed.
Activity 2: Butterfly Ornament
Amazon had Unfinished Wooden Butterfly Cutouts to paint. My students have developed a love of painting, so I try to encourage this love by providing activities for them to practice this skill. This kit has 36 pieces.
My first task was to outline the details of each butterfly with black puff paint before my students painted it. I placed parchment paper between the butterflies once they were dried so they wouldn’t stick to anything or to themselves. The students were given a choice of red, orange, yellow, purple, and pink paint to choose from. The last thing they had to choose was what type of paintbrush (adapted or not) they were going to use. I secured the butterfly to a piece of parchment paper covered cardboard so they could begin painting.
Once their butterfly was dry, they used plastic needles to insert the jute from the kit into the butterfly. I tied the knot in the jute to wrap up the project. Student names and the year were written on the back of each of the butterflies either by the student or myself.
For this craft, I needed:
Tips:
- Provide glue in case the sticker loses its stickiness.
- Add other stickers to enhance the students’ creativity.
- Invite the student’s OT to join the lesson. This creates a great opportunity to collaborate on developing fine motor skills and share similar language and prompts across a lesson.
- Use the Lite Box to assist in the assembly as needed.
- Use a desk lamp to light the work area as needed.
- If you don’t have puff paint, you can use t-shirt paint or black hot glue.
Activity 3: Color Page
The Spruce Crafts blog has a great post with 12 different free St Patrick’s Day coloring pages to choose from. They were fairly easy to adapt for my students to use. I use the coloring pages to assist with the goals the classroom teacher has for them or as an activity as we’ve completed our work faster than expected.
To add some pizzazz to their color page, we trimmed the page out and attached it to some card stock. The student was also given the option of having their artwork laminated or not.
Tips:
- Use a clipboard to help the student stabilize the paper if needed. My students enjoy pressing down on the metal clip for me to insert the paper.
- Use t-shirt paint or hot glue to raise the lines of the image. Hot glue is a faster option.
- Use “pre-k” or “toddler” in the search bar when looking for coloring pages. This helps find images that are not as cluttered making them easier to adapt.
- Use a LED Mini Lite Box to help the student as they color. This can allow them to see the image better.
- Put “bumpy” paper under the coloring paper for greater tactile input.
All the crafts from this month were sent home in a mailing envelope. Several of my students have told me their parents like getting mail from them. I filed this comment away in my ideas folder to think of ways to incorporate mailing an actual letter/package to their families.
Extension Activities
NOTE: These activities can be adapted to meet your students where they are at including students who have low vision, who are blind, or have complex needs. Remember: A lot of students with CVI (cortical/cerebral visual impairments) need simple, solid colored materials with high contrast which is not displayed on all these materials. Many will need tactile materials.
Use this to inspire your creativity and ask these teachers to make them a universal design for most learners.
- Simple Everyday Mom has a fun Shamrock Leprechaun Craft posted on their blog site. Use textured paper like APH’s Feel n Peel paper.
- Check out Homeschool of 1 for some fun ideas like these:
- Scavenger Hunt (based on the book I chose for the month)
- St Patrick’s Day Memory Game (easily adapted)
- History of St Patrick’s Day Worksheet (possible tactile graphic)
- I found this fun post on the Celebrating with Kids website on how to make a leprechaun trap using an oatmeal container. The site also has several other fun ideas you can access.
- Crystal and Comp has several fun posts
- St Patrick’s Day Pretzel Treats. Cooking is something several of my students enjoy doing and creating a treat to share with their peers? Win – win!
- St. Patrick’s Day Printable Lego Builds that are fun for your Lego-loving students!
- Crafting Jeannie has a fun craft Easy Leprechaun Craft with a free template for making the craft.
- Stay at Home Educator has a fun craft to work on those scissor skills: Snipped Yarn Preschool Rainbow Craft.
- In the Playroom has a blog post on a St Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt that is editable and easily adapted for students with visual impairments
- Fun-A-Day has a great fine motor activity: St. Patrick’s Day Tracing Printable. I shared this activity with the OTs I work with as well as several of my teachers that I knew were working on these skills.
