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These 5 easy preschool activities for St Patrick’s Day cover signs of Spring, and explore history and folklore-so fun to dive into with young children and get their imaginations working overtime! You can enter to win a fun book and toy set too.

There are so many fun ways to celebrate Spring with preschool activities. My oldest daughter, who I homeschool for preschool, gets excited for any art or craft project no matter how simple. She is a painting and coloring fanatic. When she sits down to paint or draw, we end up with at least 6-8 pieces of artwork at the end. Preschool kids and older toddlers will enjoy this collection of preschool activities for St Patrick’s Day.

5 Easy Preschool Activities for St Patrick’s Day

Silly McGilly book

Similar to The Elf on the Shelf at Christmas, Silly McGilly is a little leprechaun that can visit your home for St Patrick’s day to play fun “tricks” on the kids. Silly McGilly is actually a plush toy that comes with his own book. The book touches on facts about Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day for kids. In the book you are encouraged to invite leprechauns into your home at night by placing Silly McGilly in the window.

My oldest son placed the Silly McGilly toy in his window at night, and I prepared some simple “tricks” so the kids would find them in the morning. One night I put green food coloring in the toilet; another night I turned over all the dining room chairs, and one morning the kids found all of the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen wide open when they went downstairs. They really had fun with the lore surrounding leprechauns!

My oldest son even wrote a note to Silly McGilly asking him about his trick. (The small or grand is mentioned in the book, so this note let me know that my son was paying attention to the story well!) The book and toy are perfect for children 2 years old and up, so toddlers, preschool and early elementary kids will enjoy the simple story and folklore about Ireland.

You can enter to win your own Silly McGilly book and toy set at the end of this post.

History of St. Patricks’ Day for Kids

After reading the Silly McGilly book and playing with the toy a bit, we read some facts about Ireland and St Patrick’s day that I found on Confessions of an Overworked Mom. She shares 7 historical facts about St. Patrick’s Day for kids that will even get preschoolers asking questions about the world around them.

Color a rainbow

Learning colors is such a fun toddler and preschool activity during Spring! We explore colors and color words in a number of ways. I quickly put together a rainbow craft after we read the Silly McGilly book.

I drew a simple rainbow (remember ROY-G-BIV) so my preschooler could explore the color order and do a little preschool activity for following directions. The toddlers got to color too-we just didn’t worry too much about whether they colored the rainbow in the right order.

After coloring, my preschooler added cotton balls to the cloud outlines that I included. She got to practice using glue too. I placed the glue on the toddlers’ papers, but they placed the cotton balls where they wanted. I fluffed the cotton ball a bit to be sure if could spread out a bit.

We displayed the kids’ rainbow crafts. My preschool child learned about the color spectrum and my toddlers were able to color and learn some vocabulary words.

St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Pages

Crystal over at Crystal and Company has collection of St. Patrick’s Day printable coloring sheets that would be a fun addition to Silly McGilly and celebrating Spring. Leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold are just a few of the printables included in her St Patrick’s Day coloring packet.

You could even print out a rainbow from her blog and use it for the rainbow craft I shared above.

Paper Plate Leprechaun Mask

Why not create a fun pretend play prop and let your child pretend to be a leprechaun like Silly McGilly with this simple leprechaun mask made out of a paper plate and a few simple craft supplies.

Create a Leprechaun Trap

I love the creative way Lasso the Moon uses for kids to check if leprechauns are real! Test out whether you have any leprechauns around and then let the kids create a trap.

My son did this activity in his preschool class a few years ago. He had a great time being creative with a shoe box to try to trap those sneaky leprechauns. Lasso the Moon shares some ideas for craft supplies your kids can use to create a leprechaun trap.

Just for fun, here are 10 fun facts you may not know about leprechauns.

Silly McGilly will be making a few more appearances in our house before St Patrick’s Day. Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a Silly McGilly book and toy for your child at the end of this post!

You can check out Silly McGilly and get a preview of the book on the Silly McGilly St Patrick’s Day book website. Silly is still sitting in my 8 year old’s window inviting the leprechauns to show up!

What trick will you have Silly McGilly play in your house?