Use shamrocks to teach math skills. Teach one-to-one correspondence by drawing images of large shamrocks on paper and print numbers inside of them. Provide children with shamrock stickers or real shamrocks and have them attach an amount of shamrocks to each large shamrock that corresponds to the number printed inside. For example, you could have five shamrocks in the shamrock labeled with the number five. You can also use shamrocks to teach addition skills. Write out addition problems and have children count out an amount of shamrocks that corresponds to each addend. To determine the sum, students count the total number of shamrocks.
Foster literacy development using shamrocks. Cut out two sets of shamrocks. On one set, print uppercase letters. On the other set, print lowercase letters. Encourage students to match the uppercase and lowercase letters. Promote recognition of color words by printing shamrocks on different colored paper and print the names of the colors using markers that match the color words on pieces of plain white paper. Instruct children to match the shamrocks to the color words that illustrate the color they are; for example, a purple shamrock should be placed on the word "purple."
Encourage gross motor development and problem-solving skills with shamrock-themed games. For gross motor development, cut out shamrock shapes from green poster board and tape them to the floor and instruct students to hop from one shamrock to the other. To develop problem solving skills, hide shamrock shapes around the classroom and provide children with a list of clues that they must use to find the hidden shamrocks.
Arts and crafts promote creative thinking and fine motor skills. They also can be used to decorate your classroom. Have children create shamrocks from hearts. Cut out three heart shapes from green construction paper and assemble them so that one heart is pointing with its humps facing up. The other two will be attached to either side of the bottom of the first heart so that one shape has the humps pointing to the right and the other has the humps pointing to the left. To create a shamrock windsock, have children cut the shapes of the clover from green poster board, paint them with green paint, sprinkle green glitter on them and attach green crepe paper streamers from the bottom.