St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday to study in your homeschool!
You can learn about Ireland and Irish folklore, practice counting money, do a science lesson on rainbows and light, use critical thinking and planning skills to create a leprechaun trap, and/or practice writing limericks.
This unit study is based upon the Magic Tree House book, Leprechaun in Late Winter, and has many of the above activities included so you can make it a full day or two of school!
Grab the book, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!
The Book for St. Patrick’s Day
Magic Tree House: Leprechaun in Late Winter is a great way to introduce this unit study. It can be presented as a read aloud over a few days. Or a child that reads at about the 2nd grade level could read it over several days.
This book follows Jack and Annie to Ireland in 1862. There they meet Lady Augusta Gregory when she was a child. They help her find her imagination and then learn that she grew up to be a real life author who wrote many plays, poems, and essays. This is a fun story full of imagery and make believe!
The St. Patrick’s Day FREE Printable Unit Study
The printable unit study includes the following:
Notebooking pages about Leprechaun in Late Winter.
Ireland notebooking page with a map, a flag to color and lots of spaces to write down important and interesting facts!
Writing prompt to write about what inspires you since Jack and Annie’s goal in Leprechaun in Late Winter was to inspire their new friend.
Write Your Own Limericks: Learn how to write a limerick with a template and then try one on your own!
Crossword: To review vocabulary related to the book.
Pot O’ Gold Addition Game: Collect gold while adding coins together until you have enough to win. Suggestions are given to make it easier or harder.
Color a Rainbow: Learn how rainbows form and how ‘Roy G. Biv’ can help you color one accurately.
Video about St. Patrick’s Day
The above book makes a great introduction to Ireland, its folklore and leprechauns, but does not mention St. Patrick’s Day. This video will help you introduce St. Patrick’s day and link it with the book. It gives the history of St. Patrick’s life as well as how people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day now. (4 minutes)
“Visit” Ireland
See what Ireland looks like, including its cities and countryside. (4 minutes)
Make Irish Food
An Irish-American tradition is to eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. However, this is not something that is eaten in Ireland. On St. Patrick’s Day, people in Ireland just eat traditional Irish food.
You could choose to make traditional Irish food or Irish-American food on St. Patrick’s Day! Here are several traditional Irish recipes to get you started. You could make a whole Irish dinner or just make some Irish soda bread.
Learn About Irish Music
Music in Our Homeschool has a 15 Minute Music Lesson for St. Patrick’s Day with printable pages that is perfect to include in this unit study.
Make St. Patrick’s Day Drawings
Drawings are always a fun way to learn about a special day. Art for Kids hub has several videos to help your children draw pictures for St. Patrick’s Day. Here is one to get you started:
Make a Leprechaun Trap
Leprechaun traps are fun to make and leave out the night before St. Patrick’s Day. This can just be a fun, creative activity or you could make a more elaborate trap that pulls in some engineering concepts. Maybe incorporate some simple machines even! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Leprechaun Traps
What is a Rainbow?
St. Patrick’s Day is a great time for a science lesson about rainbows!
Here is a video to get you started. (5 1/2 minutes)
You can also introduce your child to the idea that different colors of light are different wavelengths. Here is more from Ducksters on this topic to get you started. Then, get some playdough or clay and make some different waves of light to model what you learn!
This clay works great for this project. It is also fun just to make a rainbow with it!
Books about rainbows:
Have you used any other resources to study St. Patick’s Day? Please share below!
Other Resources
Want to learn about some other Irish folklore?
Other Magic Tree House Resources:
