St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards for Preschoolers
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A word wall is an important literacy tool, that helps your children learn the alphabet, letter sounds, and words related to the theme you are using that week or month. It is also a required component in many preschool programs, and these FREE St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards will help you with this.
When you use them as a tool to support what you are trying to teach, your word wall can be a lot of fun and an effective way to complement your preschooler’s learning process.
Benefits of St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards
I feel that St. Patrick’s Day theme will not be complete without your word wall. That is why I created this free printable, which includes two sets of 4 pages each (4 in English and 4 in Spanish). Each set contains 16 cards, that your preschoolers can use to develop skills such as:
- Language development – talking about the pictures in the cards.
- One-to-one correspondence – matching magnetic letters with the letters on the words.
- Pre-writing/fine motor development – copying the words with magnetic letters, tracing them with dry-erase markers, and copying them with crayons or pencils.
- Phonological awareness – sounding out the beginning letter or the syllables in the words.
- Pre-reading development – when they observe the words and the pictures.
These cards can be displayed in a highly visible place in the classroom. You can also use them during center time as a large group activity or place them in the reading, writing, and quiet areas to be used as a small group activity.
How to Prepare the Cards
As with all the activities I create, these St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards do not require a lot of materials to keep the budget under control, and must probably you have all or most of them already. You will need:
- The FREE St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall cards (found at the end of this post)
- A printer.
- White cardstock
- Scissors.
- Laminator machine.
- Laminator sheets.
Choose the version you one and print out the pages with the cards using white cardstock. Then cut out and laminate each of the cards to protect them and make them last longer. Remember you will need one set for the word wall and one set for each of the centers where you want to place them.
Choose the version you one and print out the pages with the cards using white cardstock. Then cut out and laminate each of the cards to protect them and make them last longer. Remember you will need one set for the word wall and one set for each of the centers where you want to place them.
Where to Place the Cards
Take one set and place the cards on your word wall under the same alphabet letter of the beginning letter of each word. That way your students will recognize the correct letters. You can also place one set in the Writing Area to invite your preschoolers to practice their pre-writing skills by matching the words with magnetic letters, tracing them, or copying them.
Please encourage your students but don’t force them to do any of these activities. You want the experience to be a positive one.
How to Use St. Patrick’s Day Words
As I mentioned in my post about the Valentine’s Day Word Wall Cards, I don’t like to introduce too many new words with each theme; therefore, I always try to use words that are more relevant and easy to understand, because when the words are meaningful to the children they are more helpful.
In preschool, it is also extremely important that you introduce the word first using the correct picture, as well as the beginning sound. You never ask the children to name the word (or the picture). Remember that preschoolers learn the first sound they hear, and if it is incorrect, it will be very difficult for them to learn it the right way afterward.
Use the word wall daily to practice words in a fun way by chanting, and clapping the syllables. Once you introduce all the words, you can also play a matching game, having your children match the written word with the picture. This activity will not only help them recognize printed words but also will help them develop one-to-one correspondence and creating sets skills.
You can even use the words “rainbow”, “shamrock” and “horseshoe” to review (or introduce) compound words.
When you are presenting a word, never forget to hold up the picture and tell the students what it is. Repeat the name of the picture several times emphasizing the first sound. Call on a volunteer to place the card under the correct letter on the word wall, or do it yourself.
As the children interact with the word wall cards in the different centers, encourage them to repeat the beginning sound of the card they are using. Do this as often as possible during the day as well.
Other Activities
I like to combine several related activities to avoid and keep the children interested and engaged. To accomplish that, I would like to give you some suggestions of other activities that you can do in combination with your St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards. These activities are:
- Play the St. Patrick’s Day Memory Game or the Bingo Game.
- Do the St. Patrick’s Day Number Puzzle Activity.
- Use the St. Patrick’s Day Find the Letter activity.
- Have them work on their fine motor skills with the St. Patrick’s Pre-Writing activity.
- Read St. Patrick’s Day-related books.
- Dance using Irish music.
- Have the children do a St. Patrick’s Day-related artwork such as painting, coloring, or doing a collage using the colors light green, dark green, yellow, and orange.
- Have a St. Patrick’s dress-up day and have a parade for their classmates.
- Invite your preschoolers to participate in a simple Science experiment mixing yellow and blue tempera paint to obtain green paint.
Cooking With Your Preschoolers
Pistachio and White Chocolate Pudding Cookies by Mom Time Out
These great cookies will be a complete success in your classroom and you don’t even have food coloring to get the green color. The pistachios will do the trick. These cookies are very soft and chewy and have always been a favorite.
Mint Oreo Cheesecake by Love Create Celebrate
This is a simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-make dessert. I wouldn’t recommend using mason jars for your children, of course, but you can use transparent plastic cups so they can see the beauty of their creations.
St. Patrick’s Day Popcorn by Two Sisters Crafting
You don’t like popcorn? That is one of my favorite snacks. The only problem is that when I start eating popcorn, and cannot stop until I finish the last piece!
This particular recipe includes a marshmallow mixture, shamrock Marshmallows, green M&M’s, and St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles. Your children will go crazy with this snack. Just make sure you have them running in the playground to burn all that sugar if you don’t want to go crazy yourself!
Lime Sherbet Floats by Home Cooking Memories
To make this recipe you only need two ingredients lime sherbet and lemon-lime soda. It could not be easier and more inexpensive than that, and the best part, the children love it.
Green – Apple, Mint, and Coconut Milk Smoothie by Chef de Home
I love this recipe because instead of giving your children a sugar rush, you will be providing tons of energy with a delicious drink.
Remember to use the opportunity that this holiday gives you to talk to your children about the Irish culture, taking advantage of the fascination leprechauns, rainbows, and shamrocks always bring to young children.
Pit It for Later
If you are in a rush and cannot download your free printables now, just pin it to your St. Patrick, Literacy, or another of your Pinterest board for later.
By the way, don’t forget to grab your free St. Patrick’s Day Word Wall Cards printables! Just choose the one you like, in English or Spanish, or both, and start using them every day in your classroom, during the entire month of March.
I hope you enjoy all the FREE St. Patrick’s Day activities I created for you, hoping to help you have a great and fun St. Patrick’s Day month with your preschoolers.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. If you would like to see an article about how to make something specific, please let me know and I will try my best to write it for you. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find useful.
