In this post, you will find some creative St. Patrick’s Day ideas, along with ways to use them for speech-language practice. Themes are a great for introducing novel crafts, recipes, stories, and new vocabulary. Read on to see my favorite ideas this year.
To get started, here are some words for St. Patrick’s Day, broken into groups by sounds (yes, some of them repeat). You can get some extra practice just using these words around the holiday, and they are all great for building vocabulary:
K, G L R
Clover Luck/Lucky Rainbow
Gold/gold coins Leprechaun March
Coins Legend Leprechaun
Green Limerick Ireland
Good luck Ireland Irish
Luck/Lucky Holiday Shamrock
Bagpipe Magical Patrick
Pot of gold Clover Green/Wear green
Leprechaun Gold Clover/Four-leaf-clover
Shamrock Emerald Emerald
Patrick
Magic/magical
Trick/tricky
Clover Field:
Materials: construction paper, glue stick, scissors, Popsicle sticks, clovers (from the craft store, or cut your own), play dough (to make the sticks stand up), box (I used an empty tissue box)
1. Cut half circles in each color of different sizes to make the rainbow, and cut out a cloud (or have your child color their own rainbow with markers)
2. Write words on the clovers (see below for ideas of what to write) and glue them to the top of a Popsicle stick
3. Glue the rainbow and cloud to the front of a box
4. Put big balls of old play dough in the box and push the Popsicle sticks in to make them stand up
This clover field can be used in several ways:
- Articulation Practice: Write all of your child’s speech words on the clovers – you will have lots of opportunities to practice – let your kid tell you what to write (or let them write it if they can), then put them in the box one by one saying each word again, after they are all in the field, you can “pick” them and talk about what you found.
- Language Practice: Make the topic “I’m Lucky Because…” or “If I Found a Pot of Gold…” and write the answers on the clovers. The idea is to get several different and logical answers, and work on proper grammar. You can also talk about the ideas they give; it makes for some fun conversation.
- If you are working on vocabulary, you can add current vocabulary words to the clovers and talk about what the words mean. Then “pick” the clovers, try to remember what each word means, and use it in a sentence.
- This activity is great for following directions and sequencing. Go through each step to make the Clover Field and rainbow with your child. Then, after each step, have them tell you what they did. At the end, have them tell you all of the steps in order, or have them tell another adult how they made their Clover Field. Lead them with statements like, “FIRST we… (made a rainbow), THEN we (wrote words on the clovers), NEXT we (glued the rainbow onto a box), LAST we (put the sticks in the box with play dough)”
Finger Print Clovers:
When I was little my mom used to have us make finger print animals on the top of a piece of paper. She would then use the paper as stationary (back when people hand wrote letters). I recently saw a finger print clover and thought it would be an easy activity to use for speech practice, and all you need is some green paint/ink and paper.
- For language goals, talk about the steps to make the clovers (First, Then, Last), what happened before, what happened after. Or, if you are really motivated, take the stationary and have your child write a letter to someone. You can work on grammar, vocabulary, even spelling while writing the letter.
- For articulation, write a word on each leaf. Have your child tell you what to write – what word starts with (insert target sound here)? Then have them say the words again after the project is done.
Shamrock Shakes (make your own):
Fun and yummy, but great for sequencing, predicting, and language too.
Before you start, talk about what you are making. What do you need? Ask how it will look when you are done? Predict the color, thickness, taste, and feel. As you do each step, ask your child, “What do we do next” let them lead you, it is hard to mess this one up too much.
Ingredients: 
- Vanilla Ice Cream (*Or mint chocolate chip ice cream
if you don’t want to add extra color, you can even use organic ice cream)
- Milk
- Mint Extract
- *Green food coloring
Put ingredients in the blender in proportions for your preferred taste and thickness. Top with green whip cream and sprinkles.
Write out the steps and talk about how you made the shake. First, Then, Then, Next, Last.
Larry the Leprechaun:
If you are still reading, you are about to be rewarded with my favorite idea! Larry the Leprechaun. He has gone by many aliases in the past, depending on what sounds a child is working on (Barry, Fergus, Gallagher, Keller, Rory, Sullivan). Now, I’m sure you have heard about Larry over the years, but maybe you forgot about all the fun surprises and trouble he can get into.
Larry loves to turn toilet and bath water green. He has also been known to leave green bath paint (shaving cream and green food coloring) and treasure hidden under the bubble bath – gold coins, necklaces, plastic clovers, sunglasses, etc. (found at the dollar store). You can write words on the wall with the bath paint, talk about what you find on your treasure hunt under the bubbles, count the items, and sort them into categories – coins over here, beads over there – and look at these funny glasses, where do they go?
He hides little surprises {that all start with your child’s target sound, how convenient} around the house for days before St. Patrick’s Day, and stuffs their shoes with treasure on the morning of the magical day.
Larry loves to make a mess and turn things upside down. Think about what he might do at your house. Turn all the pictures on the fridge upside down, make a big mess in the family room or your kid’s room by spreading toys around, he puts things where they don’t belong (like ketchup and mustard where the shampoo and conditioner should be), and he turns food green. Be creative. It will give you more to talk about. Plus, it is fun to be silly every once in a while.
There are so many ways to encourage language with Larry. The “wh” question words will help. Who is Larry? Where did he come from? Why is he visiting? How long will he stay? How did he get into the house? Where does he go when he leaves your house? Why doesn’t anyone see him? Where did he hide treasure today, yesterday, where will it be tomorrow? What did he leave? How did he turn the water green? When will he be back? Why does he make such a mess? What do you think he is wearing? Where does he get his magic? Will his gifts be big or little, will he hide them high or low, and how do you know? The possibilities are endless, and the best part is that there are no wrong answers.