St. Patty’s Day marks a fun time to put an Irish spin on kids activities, crafts, games, and sensory play. This year, we had a lot of fun creating St. Patrick’s Day themed sensory bins, crafts, games, and snacks. Here are 5 easy, low-prep activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with young kids.

St. Patty’s Day Paper Dolls

Kids Activities Blog has free printable St. Patrick’s Day Paper Doll Set that kids can color and cut. While my toddler colored and had fun playing with the stick puppets we eventually made from our dolls, this activity works better for an older child who is decent with scissors (unless a grown-up does the cutting). After we made the dolls, my oldest taped them to a craft stick so the kids could put on a puppet show. I love that this craft led to so much pretend play and story-telling!

Leprechaun Treasure Hunt

Gold coins and painters tape are all that’s needed for this easy, low-prep activity that gets kids moving. I tapped gold coins around our kitchen and my kids ran around finding them. This treasure hunt was probably their favorite St. Patrick’s Day activity, and it took the least amount of effort on my part. The kids helped make little tape sandwiches for the backs of the coins, so all I really had to do was hide them. Honestly, we played this game a lot while I made dinner this week because it kept the kids busy and on the other side of the kitchen (away from the stove).

Fruit Loop Rainbow

I saw this on Instagram and knew my kids would love it because of the marshmallows. It’s always fun when we can include a fun, holiday-themed snack. Usually I prefer something a little healthier, but these were just too cute. You need two marshmallows, fruit loops, and a pipe cleaner. Putting this snack together strengthens kids fine motor muscles, reinforces following directions, and takes some of the stress out of snack time decision-making.

Free Printable Activity Pack

Totschooling has a fabulous, free printable activity pack that includes St. Patty’s themed tracing, do-a-dot pages, play dough mats and more. We actually used a robber to make the leprechaun’s beard instead of play dough, but I love that these activities are fun, educational, and free. Totschooling.com has a lot of great resources, and here’s where you can download their St. Patrick’s Day Printables.

Sensory Bins

Sensory bins and messy play is a bit of a staple with my toddler right now. I love that sensory play really holds her attention, strengthens fine motor skills, and helps regulate her emotions. We purchased some gold coins and black pots from the Dollar Store, which worked really well in our inpromptu sink or float experiment. The kids are learning letters and shapes, so we incorporated some matching activities to reinforce current educational goals.