I just love St. Patrick's Day! It's such a silly holiday and there are just so many fun ways to incorporate the holiday shenanigans into my speech therapy sessions. The kids are always super excited about the mystery and magic of leprechauns so it truly doesn't take much coaxing to get them interested in a lesson! Today I am sharing some super fun, hands-on learning activities for St. Patrick's Day! These simple activities will delight your students and allow for some serious learning in the speech room.

Lucky Sensory Bins

You guys know I love sensory bins, right? Aside from cooking with my students, it's one of my favorite things to incorporate into my lessons. There are lots of reasons to use sensory bins in the speech room too. Using sensory bins will allow you to practice a variety of skills with full student engagement.

I have two St. Patrick's Day themed sensory bins for you to try out this year. These simple bins come together quickly with inexpensive materials and your students will love the sprinkle of St. Patrick's Day magic!

1. Practice Prepositions

Hands-on learning activities for St. Patrick’s Day are fun and easy with sensory bins filled with black beans and fun fillers like gold coins and mini leprechaun hats.

All of the items needed for this activity (including the beans and bins) can typically be found at the Dollar Tree! Make sure to peek around in the holiday section when you visit. I am always finding fun, miniature objects that are perfect for sensory bins there.

Next, I bring out the vocabulary cards. I love using the Grab and Go Preschool Vocabulary Cards for sensory bins. It’s easy to work on basic concepts and prepositions using sensory bins and vocabulary cards. 

I like to ask my students to pick a card from the bin and practice saying the word together with me. Then I ask them to demonstrate understanding with a request such as, "put the coin on top of the hat". It’s an easy way for me to get in a quick assessment and identify target vocabulary for students to continue practicing. My students enjoy this kind of activity and it’s a great way to get in some serious skills practice in a fun way.

2. Practice Action Words

When putting together this sensory bin activity, I like to use plastic or paper "Easter grass" as my primary filler.

You can often find this near the gift wrapping supplies as well. Alternatively- dried, green split peas also work wonderfully! For extra fillers, I use gold coins, mini shamrocks, and miniature black pots. You can find all of these at (you guessed it) Dollar Tree! 

Add in some vocabulary cards like the set of verbs in the Grab and Go Preschool Vocabulary set, and you are ready to roll.

This is one of my favorite hands-on learning activities for St. Patrick’s Day activities. It gives my students a chance to get up and move around and they love it. First, they pick a card, name the verb, and then act it out. I find that activities that allow my students to move around a bit are always a winner! You can also ask your students to use the verb in a sentence as a follow-up.

St. Patrick's Day Slime

Next up, I have the most perfect slime recipe to share! I love using playdough and slime in my therapy sessions. And this visual recipe is the perfect way to get students involved in the process.

Using these types of materials for hands-on learning activities for St. Patrick’s Day guarantees instant student engagement. 

Slime and dough are also a great way to get in some much-needed fine motor practice and sets the stage to work on many other speech geared skills as well. Not to mention, it's so fun for the kids! 

You can find the visual recipe for this Puffy Slime in my Cooking & Craft Visual Recipe Pack: Edition 2. Visual Recipes are my favorite way to practice speech and language skills with my students. Visual recipes provide opportunities for vocabulary work, comprehension, basic concepts, adjectives, verbs, and so much more.

Make the Slime

You will need a few basic "ingredients" to make puffy slime:

• shaving cream
• glue
• contact lens solution
• green food coloring

To make the slime, measure 1 cup of glue into a mixing bowl and add a few drops of green food coloring. Mix it well. Next, add 3 cups of shaving cream to the bowl, mixing well. Continue to add more until the mixture becomes thick and fluffy. Add 5 tablespoons of contact lens solution to the mix and mix until the slime comes together. Mix and knead for at least 3 minutes until the mixture becomes less sticky and more moldable. You may need to add more shaving cream or contact solution until you reach your desired consistency.

If you would like to check out the full color, visual recipe card along with the comprehension questions and vocabulary cards for this activity, be sure to take a peek at my Cooking & Craft Visual Recipe Pack: Edition 2! This resource comes complete with 30 recipes for doughs, smoothies, and snacks! Your students will love these fun recipes and you will love how simple they are to use in your lessons.

Leprechaun Bait Freebie

If you're looking for a super simple cooking activity to use in your classroom for St. Patrick's Day, you will love this Leprechaun Bait Visual Recipe! 

This is the perfect way to test out visual recipes with your group.

My students love working collaboratively to mix the ingredients to make this delicious snack. It's a great way to get in vocabulary practice too!

The best part is, you have a delicious St. Patrick's Day snack for your kiddos to share after they finish the recipe.

This simple cooking activity features a full-color visual recipe card, comprehension questions, and vocabulary cards. 

This freebie has a printable visual recipe that's easy for you to laminate and use over and over. Your students will be so excited to make a sweet treat with their friends. You will love just how much fun cooking with kids can be in your speech sessions this March.

Claim your freebie and get started cooking with your students today!

Save these Ideas for Later!

Don't forget to pin these ideas to your favorite classroom Pinterest board for quick and easy access when you're ready to dive into some St. Patrick's Day activities!