Incorporating shamrocks into any math assignment, whether it is coloring a certain amount of them, or even subtracting, multiplying or dividing them, are all ways to involve St. Patrick's Day into the lesson. Coloring a certain number of shamrocks can help in counting as well as addition. Removing leaves from shamrocks can serve as a subtraction lesson as well.
Ireland's colors are green, white and orange. If you make links out of colored construction paper of these three colors, you can use them to add and subtract. By making a certain amount of them and linking them together, you can also make a flag representative of that of Ireland. By linking the colored construction pieces together, you can add them, while by tearing them away, you would be subtracting them.
One lesson you can perform with these links is "How many days until St. Patrick's Day?" Make 17 links and then each day subtract one until the holiday.
Many candy companies make candies in various colors depending on the holiday. During March, these companies put out white and green candies for St. Patrick's Day. Themed candies are great for counting, adding, subtracting and then eating when the math activity is done. Passing out handfuls of candies and having the children count the number of green candies they received is a sweet way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day into the lesson.
Patterns are a huge part of math. Using St. Patrick's Day themes like leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks and blarney stones is one way of incorporating the holiday into a fun math project. Patterns are great for learning sequences which can be easily translated from numbers to pictures.