I know a lot of adults that get excited about St. Patrick's Day, so it's only natural that little people would be excited, too. Growing up I thought it was an absolute must to wear green on March 17th – all of my classmates did too.

I remember kids standing at the classroom door in the morning, performing “green checks” to make sure you were wearing green. We all believed that St. Patrick's Day was an enchanted day filled with magic, good luck, and leprechauns!

Any teacher will tell you, use students' excitement to your advantage. If they are excited about something, gather all the thematic ideas you can and incorporate them into learning activities, games, and crafts. They're going to be excited so you might as well go with, right?! Well, I'm here with some ideas and lessons to help turn that excitement to learning in your classroom!

I've got an adorable no-prep St Patrick's Day craft that I want to share with you. This craft reviews a much needed skill and incorporates a little holiday fun at the same time.

Easy No Prep St. Patrick's Day Craft:

Hopefully by this point in the year your kindergarteners have mastered the art of making ten. This is really an important concept because several math skills to follow rely on students being able to quickly see numbers and make 10. Since this is such an important skill, I like to re-visit it throughout the school year – and this no prep craft is the perfect way.

For this no prep St Patrick's Day craft, you'll need 

• St. Patrick's Day Making 10 Free Printable
• Green Construction Paper
• Marker or Pencil
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Glue Sticks

There's no prep work for this craft, just print the free printable, grab your supplies – and you're ready to go.

This makes a great activity for math centers, Fun Friday, or even a sub plans.

Before students begin coloring, have them write ways to make 10 on the coins. There are ten coins so they can write ten different ways to make ten.

Once students have filled in all of the coins, they can color the coins and the cauldron. 

Next students will cut out the title, coins, and cauldron. Students should cut the title apart on the dotted lines. 

Have your students glue the cauldron at the bottom of the page. They will put the title words in order and glue it at the top of the page. 

For the final step to complete this no prep St Patrick's Day craft, students will glue on the gold coins. The coins can be glued on in any order. It works best to glue 4 on the bottom row, then 3 on the next row, 2 on the next row and 1 on top. 

If you're reading this and St. Patrick's Day has already passed, pin the image below to remind you for next year.

After you’ve made this no prep St Patrick's Day craft with your kids, be sure to tag me on Instagram (@ThePrintablePrincess) or send me a picture so that I can see! 

You can grab your free copy of the No Prep St. Patrick's Day Ways to Make 10 craft printable by filling out the form below. It'll be sent straight to your inbox! 

St. Patrick's Day Read Alouds

Read aloud time is one of the most powerful times of day in the classroom. Not only is it great for students to be exposed to different stories and fluent, expressive reading, but it is also quite relaxing for them.

Doing a read aloud after lunch, recess, or at the end of the day is a great way to re-focus your students and give them a chance to relax and enjoy the story.

Keeping your bookshelves stocked with seasonal and holiday-themed read alouds is a blast for students and gets them in the spirit.

Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite read alouds for St. Patrick's Day!

• How to Catch a Leprechaun
• St. Patrick's Day Alphabet
• Hooray for St. Patrick's Day!
• The Night Before St. Patrick's Day
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover!
• Green Shamrocks
• The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever
• Happy St. Patrick's Day, Curious George!
• The Littlest Leprechaun
• Jack and the Leprechaun
• Ten Lucky Leprechauns
• Leprechaun on the Loose

March Writing Centers

St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, gold, and rainbows all make such fun topics to write about in kindergarten!

Your students will have a blast boosting their creativity and writing skills with these March Writing Centers, including St. Patrick's Day themes as well as spring and farm themes.

Students will learn about new seasonal vocabulary words while learning how to use them correctly in sentences and writing activities.

Plus, this leprechaun trap “Write About It” activity is the perfect follow up to the book “How to Catch a Leprechaun.”

If you're planning to do a leprechaun trap STEM activity with your students, this writing center activity would be a great way to help students plan and strategize how they'll trap their leprechaun.

This is just one of the exciting writing activities included in this month's set!

St. Patrick's Day Math and Literacy Centers

Another way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day activities for kindergarten into your lesson plans is with themed math and literacy centers.

This 6 pack set of St. Patrick's Day math and literacy centers is an easy way to add a little luck and leprechaun learning to your center rotations.

With 3 hands-on centers for both math and literacy, you'll be set with just the right amount of St. Patrick's Day themed activities to get you through the first half of March.

Each center comes with a recording sheet, so students can show what they know and work on independence, which is key in the spring months of kindergarten.

Six no-prep pages are also included to reinforce skills. Use these pages during morning work, as an independent practice activity, small group activity, or even for early finishers.

The skills included in this set are: rhyming, CVC words, beginning digraphs, addition, ten frames, number identification, and counting.

DIY Golden Coin Math Activities

If you're anything like me, you enjoy long walks through the Target Dollar Spot and long scrolls through the virtual aisles of Amazon.

Around St. Patrick's Day, you can often find some fun seasonal items, such as mini erasers and golden coins. I've also had good luck finding these items at party stores.

There are so many DIY educational activities you can do with those little golden coins. Read on for a couple fresh math activity ideas!

Golden Teen Numbers

For this St. Patrick's Day activity for kindergarten, all you need are dollar store golden coins or gold pom-poms.

Place the coins in a plastic party cup. Write teen numbers on notecards. Have students draw a card and use a spoon or jumbo tweezers to scoop out that many golden coins from the party cup.

Lucky Addition and Subtraction

For this activity, write addition and subtraction sentences to 10 on notecards. Students will draw a card and use golden coins to solve the problem. They can write the equation and record their answer on a whiteboard.

Both of these activities would be perfect for a small group math center or independent math activity.

St. Patrick's Day Math and Literacy Freebie

St. Patrick's Day comes during a busy time of year. Spring is arriving and the calendar starts to fill up quickly.

If you're looking for some quick and easy St. Patrick's Day-themed activities to add to your lesson plans, I've got you covered!

This St. Patrick's Day Math and Literacy FREEBIE covers skills such as numbers to 100, graphing, CVC words, and real/nonsense words.

Best of all, the activities are all low-prep and perfect to use throughout the month of March!

All you need are basic supplies like dice, small manipulatives like mini erasers or gold coins, and you're set.

These activities are great to add to your morning tub activities, partner games, math and literacy centers, or as an early finisher activity.

Want to get these free St. Patrick's Day activities for kindergarten delivered straight to your inbox? Fill out the form below and they’ll be on their way!

DIY Shamrock Activities

Just like there are so many activities you can do with golden coins, there is a lot you can do with basic shamrock cutouts.

Check out these ideas for quick and easy, DIY literacy activities that your students will love!

Shamrock Word Families

For this activity, write different word family words on die-cut shamrocks. If you have foam shamrock cutouts, you can use those too.

Students will draw 2 shamrocks, read the words, and determine if they rhyme and belong in the same word family.

If they do rhyme, the student gets to keep them. If they don't, they put them back into the pile and play continues to the next student.

Build a Shamrock Word

This DIY shamrock activity focuses on building words with word family endings and beginning blends.

Write various word family endings on one set of shamrocks. On another set of shamrocks, write various beginning blends.

Students will draw a shamrock from each set and put them together to make a word. After they read the word aloud, they will record it on a whiteboard.

To take this a step further, students can identify if the word is real or nonsense.

If you're looking for more St. Patrick's Day literacy activities, click here to grab your FREE copy of this adorable Word Family Hats Craft.

St. Patrick's Day Snack

To round out the St. Patrick's Day activities for kindergarten, let's end on a tasty note with a quick and easy St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold snack activity!

There's no baking or complicated prep required and it is sure to be a hit with your students.

With simple ingredients like graham crackers, frosting, and sprinkles, your students will have a blast putting this snack together and eating it.

Click here for the ingredients, instructions, and a step-by-step video tutorial.

This snack is great for a class party and can even be made in small groups during your St. Patrick's Day rotations.

I hope you enjoyed these St. Patrick's Day activities for kindergarten and have a few new ideas to take back to your classroom. If you're looking for more easy prep March ideas, check out this blog post.

Be sure to snap a picture and show us how you and your class are celebrating St. Patrick's Day over in the Kindergarten Palace!

Whether you have 5-10 minutes before the next transition, your schedule changes, or you have a few minutes at the end of the day, it's always nice to have a back-up plan of activities that you can pull out at anytime.

Even though a few minutes may not sound like much, if you're a kindergarten teacher, you know how long those few minutes can be if you aren't prepared.

Plus, it's always nice to have a few easy- or no-prep activities that you can use if you need to fill some time, head out to an unexpected meeting or appointment, or need to wrap up working with a student.

Read on for some of my favorite easy prep activities that are perfect for the month of March.

March Read Alouds

This may be the easiest activity, but also one of the most impactful. Read alouds are pure gold for filling time and calming students. Kids love to be read to and it's so important that they are!

Whenever a new month or season rolls around, it's always fun to switch out the books and get your students excited for a new batch of read alouds!

Here are some of my favorite read alouds for March:

• Mama Built a Little Nest
• The Great Garden Escape
• Bear Wants More
• When Spring Comes
• Spring is Here: A Bear and Mole Story
• Lola Plants a Garden
• A Perfect Day for Digging

Easy Prep March Writing Activities

With a new season brings a ton of new topics to write about in kindergarten. March is a great month to discuss and write about farm animals, spring, St. Patrick's Day, rainbows, and more.

You can find writing prompts for all of these topics and more in the March Writing Prompts resource, made just for kindergarten!

These print-and-go writing prompts are easy to add to your writing lessons or journal time.

Plus, they are the perfect way to show growth in your students' writing skills when it comes time for parent-teacher conferences or quarterly report cards.

DIY Leprechaun Writing Activity

If you need a quick and easy DIY writing activity for the month of March, you can try out this leprechaun writing activity.

Have students think about what would happen if a leprechaun came to school. Encourage students to turn and talk to a neighbor and brainstorm all of the different things that could happen.

As a class, make a list on the whiteboard of what the leprechaun could do or what could happen.

Write the prompt “If a leprechaun came to school ________” on the whiteboard. Have students pick their favorite scenario and complete the sentence starter and illustrate it on lined writing paper.

No Prep Activities for March

For those days when you need a no prep activity to add to your morning work, math or literacy centers, or anytime of day, stay prepared with these March No Prep Activities!

These come in handy during times when you are working individually with a student or giving assessments.

They are also great for those busy weeks leading up to Spring Break or parent-teacher conferences.

Just add your favorite bingo dabbers and you're set! Plus, the bingo dabbers are great for fine motor practice and add a little something special to this no prep activity.

If you don't have bingo dabbers, you can use any coloring utensil you have.

They're easy to prep, fun for students to complete, and give students a ton of opportunities to practice key math and literacy skills. It's a triple win!

DIY Mini Eraser Activities

Sometimes, all it takes to turn an easy prep activity into a total classroom hit is to add some fun manipulatives!

Using spring-themed mini erasers is a great way to make basic activities fun for your students.

Gather your favorite mini erasers and try out these simple activities for March.

• Build words using mini erasers. (CVC, CVCe, sight words, color words, number words, etc.)
• Practice beginning blends and digraphs by using mini erasers to build them.
• Model number sentences with mini erasers and solve for the answer.
• Compare numbers by modeling with sets of mini erasers.

You can grab a FREE Juggling Jelly Beans comparing numbers game by clicking here. This freebie uses two of my favorite manipulatives: bingo dabbers and mini erasers!

No Prep Ways to Make 10 Craft Freebie

You can't beat a no-prep craft that also ties in key math skills. Practice making 10 in different ways during the month of March with this St. Patrick's Day No Prep Ways to Make 10 Craft!

This is a super easy craft to put together and doesn't require a ton of supplies or any prep time.

You can check out the supply list and directions, a video tutorial, and grab the FREE making 10 printable template in this blog post.

March Boom Cards

When it comes to easy prep activities, sometimes it pays to think outside of the printable activity box.

Using digital activities like these self-checking, no-prep March Boom Cards is a great way to incorporate no prep learning into your lesson plans.

Students will love the interactive style of these game-like learning activities. Plus, with audio directions and picture names, they will gain independence and confidence as learners.

The March set has eight St. Patrick's Day-themed activities for math and literacy. Your students will have a blast practicing skills such as:

• Beginning L Blends
• Beginning Digraphs
• CVC Sentences
• Build the CVC Word
• 2D and 3D Shapes
• Addition to 10
• Subtraction within 10
• Numbers 11-19

I hope you've enjoyed these easy prep activities for March! I wish you all the lesson planning and prepping simplicity this month!

If you're looking for additional activities for St. Patrick's Day, be sure to check out this blog post!

How to Maximize Your Time in the Spring

Spring in the classroom is a super busy time. There's spring break, Easter, end of year activities, assessments, and so much more going on.

Plus, with the weather warming up and students wanting to get outside, it can be harder than ever to keep their focus during the months of March, April, and May.

However, there are a few tips you can implement to maximize your time in the spring. These tips will ensure your students are still learning all of the necessary skills while having fun and staying active.

Tip #1: Use low and no prep activities.

Not only is your daily schedule jam-packed in the spring, but you also have a lot on your plate as a teacher this time of year.

You may be working on after-school projects, planning school events, going over assessment data, or planning ahead for next school year.

In order to make sure your students have the activities they need while maximizing your lesson planning time, it's important to keep your prep time down.

To do that, use a variety of low and no prep activities, like these spring no prep bingo dabber activities for math and literacy!

All you have to do is print, add bingo dabbers, and go. Your students will love them and so will your stress-levels!

Tip #2: Implement centers to work on a variety of skills.

Another great way to maximize your time in the spring (and all year long) is to incorporate centers into your daily routine.

Centers allow you to work on a variety of skills during your rotations. This allows your students to practice and spiral review multiple skills within one time block.

Plus, they'll be staying active with the various hands-on activities and manipulatives.

Practice key skills like CVC words, onset and rime, ten frames, teen numbers, and number bonds with these spring math and literacy centers.

Follow up each hands-on center with a no-prep page for extra practice (without the prep time).

Tip #3: Take advantage of cross-curricular learning opportunities.

Nothing says maximizing your time like teaching multiple subjects and skills at the same time!

As teachers, you are expert multi-taskers, so why not multi-task when it comes to your lesson planning? There are so many ways to incorporate cross-curricular learning opportunities into your day.

Take a look at your kindergarten pacing guide to see which skills and concepts your students need to learn this spring. Then, you can plan lessons and activities that touch on multiple skills.

For example, you can incorporate spring science and social studies topics such as recycling, Earth Day, and weather into your writing lessons with spring-themed writing prompts.

Students can learn more about recycling, Earth Day, and the weather through an educational video, lesson, or read aloud.

Follow it up with a spring writing prompt, such as:

• I help the Earth when I…
• I can recycle…
• My favorite place on Earth is…
• April showers…
• When the weather gets warmer, …
• When it rains, I like to…

This is a fun way to maximize your time while using spring activities for kindergarten.

Tip #4: Encourage independent learning.

Doesn't it seem like yesterday that your students were just coming to you on the first day of school? Think back to all of the guidance and direction they needed in the beginning.

Over the months, you've helped mold them into the problem-solvers and independent thinkers they are becoming today!

Celebrate this and maximize your time by giving students the opportunity to work independently more often. This is so helpful when you are busy working with or assessing another student.

It seems like there are so many projects to wrap up in the spring. Build in some time during your day to catch up, finish projects, and work with students while the rest of the class works independently on a spring activity.

If a student finishes an activity or assignment early, allow them to do an educational activity independently. This will keep them on task without creating chaos in your classroom.

Tip #5: Look for learning opportunities in everyday moments.

Your students are craving the outdoors and sunshine. Let's face it, you are too! Don't be afraid to take your class outside and create your own learning opportunities out of everyday moments.

When you're outside at recess, gather your students for a fun outdoor learning game. Take sidewalk chalk outside to practice math and literacy skills.

You can also look for learning opportunities in the everyday moments inside your classroom. During snack time, have your students practice counting, comparing numbers, sorting, and graphing.

During read alouds, have class discussions about the characters, setting, plot, and other text features. Encourage students to write and draw about the story afterwards to work on those writing skills.

Learning is all around us. Help your students find these real-world opportunities to learn something new while also maximizing your time this spring!

Free Rainbow Match Math Activity

If you're looking for a spring activity for kindergarten that is low prep, engaging, and focuses on multiple skills, this Rainbow Match math activity is for you!

Did I mention, it's FREE?!

This activity has all the goodness of spring with bright colors and an adorable rainbow theme. Students will have a blast practicing teen number recognition, counting, and representing numbers with base ten and ten frames.

This activity comes with a hands-on activity mat, rainbow matching cards, and a recording sheet so your students can show what they know. There are 3 different ways to use this activity. Hello differentiation and maximizing your time!

To get this free Rainbow Match activity delivered straight to your inbox, fill out the form below, and it'll be on it's way!

I hope these spring activities for kindergarten have inspired you to try something knew and maximize your time this spring.

Soak up every last moment with your students, because they'll go by fast! If you need more spring activities and ideas, check out my Spring Centers for Kindergarten blog post!

Easy and Affordable Spring Math Games For Kindergarten

Spring is a great time to spiral review math skills learned throughout the entire year. Using math games for kindergarten is a perfect way to touch on multiple skills while still having fun and keeping your students engaged.

However, as teachers, it's not realistic to go out and purchase a ton of math games to add to your classroom. You also don't have a lot of extra time on your schedule to prep complicated math games.

Don't worry though, because with a few easy and affordable manipulatives, you can create a ton of fun math games this spring.

Egg Carton Comparing Numbers Ten Frame Game

Egg cartons are super versatile and affordable, and chances are, you have a whole stack laying around your house or classroom for moments like this!

Cut the last 2 slots off of an egg carton so it has 10 spaces, just like a ten frame. Students can use the egg carton ten frame to practice comparing numbers.

They will begin by drawing 2 number cards. Then, they will model each number in a separate egg carton ten frame using other small manipulatives, such as mini erasers.

They'll determine which number is greater than, less than, or equal to. You can even make notecards with the <, >, and = symbols for students to place between the egg cartons to show the comparison.

A few fun spring-themed manipulative ideas you can use for this game are:

• Easter eggs
• Spring mini erasers
• Jelly beans
• Colorful pom-poms
• Flower paper cutouts

Roll, Count, and Cover Math Game

Using dice is another easy and affordable way to make math games such as Roll, Count, and Cover come to life.

This math game for kindergarten is a great way to review number sense skills either independently or with a partner.

It uses the basic supplies, such as dice and plastic math cubes or mini erasers, making it super easy to prep during the busy spring months.

To play, students will roll the dice and count the dots shown to determine the number. Then they will find the number on the game mat and cover it with their manipulative.

There are also game mats that are one less and one more, challenging students to cover the number that is either one less or one more than the number they rolled. Play continues until all of the spaces on the game mat are covered.

These game mats come in a variety of seasonal themes as well as options to practice numbers to 6 and numbers to 12. Hello, differentiation!

Spring Boom Cards

Using digital math games for kindergarten is a sure way to keep the engagement high and the prep low this spring!

Let's face it, all teachers have those days when they just need something educational that they can whip out that requires ZERO prep, grading, or effort.

This seems to happen more often in the spring, especially right before spring break or at the end of the school year.

These Spring Boom Cards are the perfect solution for those instances! With 4 digital math games included, your students can practice addition and subtraction word problems, numbers to 100, subtraction with a number line, and numbers 11-19 in an interactive way.

Plus, there's audio directions included, so they can be truly independent!

There are also 4 literacy games included, giving you a ton of options for spring review games to use with your students.

Comparing Numbers Spring Freebie

If you love a good DIY math game for kindergarten, you're going to really enjoy this Comparing Numbers Spring Freebie!

This game is called “Juggling Jelly Beans.” As you might guess, you can use real jelly beans as your game markers.

You can also use jelly bean mini erasers or another small mini eraser or manipulative. Another great alternative are these plastic jelly bean beads on Amazon.

You'll also need a few colors of plastic eggs for this game.

Preparing the Jelly Bean Math Game

To prepare this free comparing numbers math game, put various amounts of jelly beans or manipulatives in each plastic egg. Be sure to use several of the same color eggs so students don't know how many objects are in the egg.

Place the eggs in a small basket or container. Print the game mat and add some bingo dabbers or crayons, then you're set!

How To Play the Jelly Bean Math Game

Students will play the game with either a partner or in a small group. To get started, each student will select an egg from the basket. They will open the egg and count the number of objects inside.

The student with the least amount of jelly beans wins that round. They dab (or color) a circle on their game mat to show they won that round.   

Then they put the objects back in the egg and return the eggs to the basket. They take a different egg and repeat the process of counting and comparing.

The player with the least amount in the next round dabs their game mat, and so on.

With this game, you can differentiate by having students practice identifying the number that is either the least or the greatest.  

Students will continue counting, comparing, and dabbing until one player has filled their entire game board.

To get this FREE Juggling Jelly Beans Spring Math Game, click here to get your free download.

Roll and Race Math Games

Students love a little friendly competition in the form of a race, which is why these Roll and Race Math Games are perfect for math review!

Whether students are racing a partner or competing against themselves, these games are a fun way to practice a variety of kindergarten math skills.

Skills included in the Roll and Race Math Games are: number recognition, dominoes, ten frames, number words, addition and subtraction, missing numbers, counting on, one more, one less, 2D shapes, 3D shapes, and comparing numbers.

To play, students will roll the dot cube, select the first available space from that column on their game mat, and solve the math problem.

The object of the game is to be the first player to reach the top of a single column. If playing independently, students can see how fast they can race to the top.

These game mats can be used for small group instruction, especially to practice skills that need a little extra work. You can also add them to morning tubs, fast finisher bins, or your math centers.

I hope you enjoyed these spring math games for kindergarten and can use them in your classroom!

For more tips on incorporating games into your classroom, check out this blog post.

Need some more hands-on spring ideas and a colorful rainbow-inspired math freebie? Head on over to this blog post!

Tips For Making Learning Fun In The Spring

There's no doubt that when the weather warms up, it's pretty hard to compete with the playground and your students' urge to get outside and burn off energy.

However, with a few teacher tips, you can make learning fun in the spring and get the best of both worlds!

Tip #1: Get outside when you can.

Everyone can use a change of scenery after a long winter. When the weather is nice, take advantage of it and get outside.

Sometimes just a change of scenery is all it takes for students to thrive.

There are so many ways you can take the learning outside. Your students can write sight words, CVC words, teen numbers, and addition and subtraction sentences with sidewalk chalk.

Take them on a nature walk and have them write about and illustrate what they see. The opportunities are endless! For more easy outdoor learning ideas, check out this blog post.

Tip #2: Keep your students active.

It's natural for students to want to be active and moving around when spring comes around.

Instead of trying to keep them in their seat, embrace their need to move by keeping them active in their learning.

Spring centers for kindergarten are a great way to keep your students on task and moving around.

By switching activities, using different manipulatives, and practicing a variety of skills, you'll keep your students on their toes while having fun mastering key kindergarten concepts.

Tip #3: Review skills from the year.

The arrival of spring means that the end of the year and summer break are just ahead. It's crazy how fast time flies by!

This makes spring a great time to review skills learned throughout the year. This helps students refresh their brains and brush up on skills.

They also gain independence by working on these skills more independently, such as during centers.

A spring review is also a great way to assess how your students are doing on certain skills. This allows you to see which skills are mastered and which need a bit more work before moving on to 1st grade.

You can learn even more strategies for an end of year review in this blog post.

Tip #4: Use bright and exciting activities.

Say goodbye to the dreary winter and hello to bright and exciting spring colors and activities!

A great way to bring the energy back into the classroom for the rest of the year is by incorporating spring centers for kindergarten.

Read on for a few of my favorite math, literacy, and writing centers for spring!

Spring Math and Literacy Centers for Kindergarten

The spring months are a critical time in kindergarten. Not only are students learning new skills, but they are also reviewing skills taught throughout the year.

As a teacher, it can be difficult to plan time and activities to cover both the new and previously taught skills.

A great way to cover both while increasing student independence is with spring math and literacy centers for kindergarten.

With 27 spring-themed centers included, 14 math and 13 literacy, your students will have a ton of opportunities to show what they know.

Each center includes kid-friendly directions and a no prep recording sheet, perfect for saving you time this spring!

From rhyming words to digraphs to counting and base ten, your students will have a blast with these hands-on spring centers.

Themes include spring, flowers, insects, butterflies, birds, rainbows, farm animals, and frogs.

Free Rainbow Match Center Activity

If you love incorporating bright colors into your spring centers for kindergarten, but you're a little short on time, you're going to love this FREE Rainbow Match math center activity!

This activity is great for helping students identify numbers to 20. It also helps students make connections between numbers and their representation on a ten frame and with base ten blocks.

This activity is super easy to prep and only requires basic classroom supplies, such as mini erasers and plastic math cubes.

The best part about this activity (besides the fact that it is free!) is that it can be used in 3 different ways. Hello, differentiation!

• Activity 1: Use it as a simple matching activity for teen numbers. You can use this in a pocket chart or have students complete it at a small group table or carpet area. 
• Activity 2: Students can turn the cards face-down and play a memory matching game with a partner.
• Activity 3: Students can work independently to match the rainbow cards to make a pair. They place the pair of rainbow cards on the top of the activity mat. They use manipulatives to show the number on the ten frames.

Want to snag a free copy for your classroom? Just fill out the form below and it'll be sent straight to your inbox!

March Writing Centers

It's so fun to see how students' writing skills progress throughout the school year. It can seem like just yesterday they were barely able to hold a pencil to write their name.

Now, in the spring, they are writing sentences, short stories, and editing their writing!

To help support students in their writing skill growth, these March writing prompts for kindergarten are just the ticket!

Students will learn and apply seasonal vocabulary words while sharpening key writing skills that will prepare them for 1st grade and beyond.

With themes such as weather, zoo animals, and Earth Day, you'll also be able to incorporate a ton of cross-curricular discussions and opportunities!

I hope you enjoyed these tips and spring centers for kindergarten! If you need more hands-on and DIY spring activities, check out this blog post.

#1: Build a Rainbow

The first of the spring learning ideas for kindergarten is a bright and colorful one that will offer meaningful skill practice during center rotations or partner practice.

To prep, you'll need a large sheet of 9 x 12 blue construction paper. Cut it in half lengthwise to make two 4 ½ x 12 pieces. This will represent your sky. Next, cut out 2 white clouds from white paper. Write the number 5 on one cloud and the number 10 on the other. Next, glue them to the top half of the blue sky pieces and laminate.

Then, choose 5 different colors of construction paper and cut them into 3 x 12 strips. You'll need 10 strips in all, 2 of each color. Separate the strips into 2 sets of 5 colors. Write number pairs for 5 on one set and number pairs for 10 on the other set. Laminate the strips for added durability.

For this activity, students will lay out both clouds and mix up the strips. They'll draw a strip, read the number pair, and place it under the correct cloud to show if it makes 5 or 10. They'll keep going, taking turns if they're working with a partner, until all of the strips have been sorted and the rainbow is complete.

You can differentiate this activity by making rainbow words instead. Simply write word families in the clouds and word family words on the rainbow strips. Students will match the words to the word family clouds to make the rainbow.

#2. Easter Egg Math and Literacy

Plastic Easter eggs are one of the most versatile supplies to use in the spring. You can practice sight words by writing a sight word on each side of the egg, mixing them up, and having the students match them up. Another idea is to practice word family fluency by writing different word families around one side of the egg and different beginning sounds around the other side. As students turn the egg, they'll practice decoding words.

Similar to the sight word activity, you can write teen numbers on one side of the egg and draw dots on the other side. Have students count the dots and match them to the correct number. Want to practice addition facts? Write an addend and a “+” sign on one side of the egg and another addend on the other side. Turn the egg and practice adding the different equations. You can find more Easter egg activities in my Easter egg literacy and Easter egg math blog posts.

#3: Weather Activities

Spring is the perfect time to incorporate seasonal weather activities into your spring learning ideas for kindergarten. These are simple and easy to do with your students but will have them oohing and ahhing!

Make it rain.

For this experiment, you'll need a clear plastic cup or a glass jar, shaving cream, and blue food coloring. To conduct the experiment, fill the cup or jar with water. Squirt shaving cream on top of the water to make a “cloud.” Explain to students that when the clouds get heavy with water, it rains! Next, put blue food coloring on top of the cloud and watch as it moves through the cloud, making “rain.”

Tornado in a jar.

For this DIY science activity, you'll need a jar with a lid, a teaspoon, vinegar, dish soap, and glitter. To conduct the experiment, fill the jar ¾ full with water. Put one teaspoon of vinegar and one teaspoon of dish soap in the water. Sprinkle in a small amount of glitter and close the lid tightly.

Swirl the jar in a circular motion and watch as a tornado forms in the center of the jar. Discuss with students where the vortex of the tornado is and that the glitter represents flying debris. Let each student take a turn swirling the jar to make a tornado. This is a great time to tie in weather safety into your discussion as well!

DIY weather graph.

This spring learning idea for kindergarten combines seasonal weather themes with graphing skills. Draw a basic graph on the whiteboard or chart paper with numbers to 1-10 listed vertically up the left side of the graph and different types of weather listed horizontally across the bottom.

Give students a sticky note and have them draw a picture of their favorite type of weather. Then, call students one at a time to come to the board, show the class their drawing and share their favorite type of weather, and add it to the graph. After the graph is complete, count the amount of votes in each weather category and have students write the numbers on whiteboards.

Next, determine which weather type got the least amount of votes, the greatest amount of votes, and subtract to find the difference. You can also practice addition and subtraction skills by asking questions about the graph, such as “How many total votes did rainy weather and sunny weather get in all?”

#4: Spring Morning Tubs

In the spring, your students are probably full of energy and craving excitement and fresh air. Start your mornings off on the right, productive, and less chaotic foot with spring-themed morning tub activities for kindergarten!

Your students will have a blast learning and warming up their brains for the day with these 21 hands-on math and literacy activities. Plus, they'll work on key fine motor skills too!

These activities are easy to prep, require basic classroom supplies, and are perfect for morning tubs, fast finishers, or even to add to your math or literacy centers.

There is even an editable spring sight word activity included to help your students master their sight word list!

#5: Juggling Jelly Beans

Another fun spring learning idea for kindergarten is to practice comparing numbers with jelly beans! To begin, fill 2-3 colors of plastic Easter eggs with various amounts of jelly beans (or mini-erasers). Students will play with a partner, taking turns drawing an egg and counting the objects inside. The person with the most jelly beans gets to dab a spot on the free jelly bean game board to show they won that round. Play continues until one student fills up their game board and is declared the winner.

#6: Spring Boom Cards

This spring learning idea for kindergarten is a digital kid-favorite. These digital Boom Cards are the perfect way for students to practice key spring skills in an interactive way. They are great to use during center time or as an independent activity while you have students at the teacher table or are working on assessments. With audio directions and immediate feedback, this digital activity is perfect for students to use independently.

This Spring Boom Card decks focuses on 8 different math and literacy skills that are essential for students to master in kindergarten. Skills include sight word sentences, CCVC words, beginning and ending digraphs, beginning R blends, subtraction with a number line, addition word problems, numbers to 100, and numbers 11-19.

#7: Sight Word Flowers

Sight words are the focus of this spring learning idea for kindergarten. To prep, cut out several large, colored circles from construction paper to use as flowers. Cut out several green rectangles to use as stems. Write different sight words on the stems in black marker. Write the same sight words on the flowers. Students will draw a flower and match it to the correct flower stem, completing their flower.

You could also do this activity with teen numbers by writing teen numbers on the flowers and drawing various numbers of dots on the stems for students to match.

I hope these spring learning ideas for kindergarten have you feeling fresh and motivated to tackle the spring months in your classroom. Comment below and let me know which activity you're trying first!

#1. Leprechaun Trap STEM Activity

Let's kick off the St. Patrick's Day ideas for kindergarten with one of my favorites…leprechaun traps! I'm 99.9% confident that your students will have a blast with this. Give your students various materials and supplies from around the classroom. Manipulatives, construction paper, scissors, glue, tape, art supplies, whatever you have on hand works. 

The object of this activity is for your students to work together to build a trap to catch the sneaky leprechaun. Before you start the activity, discuss ideas and strategies as a class. Talk about ways to attract the leprechaun to the trap, such as a pot of gold, coins, a leprechaun friend, rainbows, snacks, etc. Have your students work in partners or small groups. 

Now here's the best part…turn your students loose and watch their creativity and critical thinking come alive. As they create their traps and work together, soak in the learning buzz from your classroom. Check on each group to hear what their strategy is. 

Once the traps are built, leave them overnight. Before your students come the next morning, you can trap leprechaun cutouts or figurines to show students that their plan worked. I'm telling you, this STEM activity is a hit!

#2. March Morning Tubs

After your students come in and are delighted to see their trapped leprechauns, it's time to get back on track with your solid morning routine. Without a consistent morning routine, your classroom can turn to chaos in 2.5.  The March morning tubs are full of St. Patrick's Day ideas for kindergarten that will help students get focused from the get-go.

These morning tubs also give students the opportunity to work on skills they're learning in math and literacy with the 19 different activity options. Lots of practice is the key, right? 

#3. Fill the Pot

If you're looking for a hands-on way to practice counting, one-to-one correspondence, and teen number identification, this St. Patrick's Day idea for kindergarten is just the ticket. Gather plastic containers or small buckets you have on hand. Use a die cut machine or card stock and scissors to cut out large gold circles.

Then, write numbers 11-19 on the circles, one number on each. Stick the number circles to the outside of the containers. Give students a large container of gold pom poms and have them use jumbo tweezers to count out the number of pom poms to fill the container. They'll even sneak in some extra fine motor practice as they fill their pot with teen number gold!

#4. St. Patrick's Day Math and Literacy Centers

Want to know the easiest way to make your math and literacy centers fresh and exciting for your students? Put a St. Patrick's day spin on them! You can swap out manipulatives for mini-erasers, use Lucky Charms to practice sorting and counting, or practice writing sight words and CVC words with rainbow colors. These simple ideas can be implemented with your current center activities to give them a St. Patrick's Day flair.

You can also add these 6 St. Patrick's Day math and literacy centers and corresponding recording sheets to your rotations.

#5. Sight Word Rainbows

This St. Patrick's Day idea for kindergarten is all about sight words! First, cut strips of colored paper into 2 x 3 inch pieces. Give each student 3-5 pieces of colored paper. You can let them choose their colors or hand them out. Give each student a sticky note list of 3-5 sight words to write. 

They'll write each sight word on a piece of the colored paper. Build a class rainbow by calling out a sight word and having every student with that word come up and place their colored piece on the whiteboard, making a rainbow shape. Continue on until all sight words are called and the rainbow is complete.

#6. Making 10 Craft

To carry on the magic and luck that comes with St. Patrick's Day, keep the learning going with a DIY craft that will have your students swimming in gold coins and reviewing ways to make 10 all at the same time.

This making 10 craft only requires green construction paper, scissors, glue, crayons, a marker or pencil, and the free Ways to Make 10 printable. Easy prep? Count you in! This would make the perfect math craftivity to complete during your St. Patrick's Day studies or as a fun Friday math activity. 

#7. March Boom Cards

As students are learning new concepts in math and literacy, it's important to review these skills so students are continually keeping them fresh in their brains. Boom cards are an effective way to review skills and foster independence in your kindergarteners.

The March Boom Cards set focuses on the skills your students are working on this month. From beginning blends and digraphs to CVC words, addition and subtraction, teen numbers, and 2D and 3D shapes, your students will have 8 self-checking decks of learning fun to add to their independent learning centers, technology station, or even their early finisher activities. 

#8. Pot of Gold Snack

What better way to wrap up than with a tasty treat fit for a leprechaun (or a kindergartener). Not only is this pot of gold snack delicious, it's fun for students to make, too!

Prep the snack by placing all of the ingredients each child will need on a paper plate. Take this opportunity to work on direction following by building the pot of gold snack together step-by-step. 

Did these St. Patrick's Day ideas for kindergarten inspire you to try something new? I'm confident your little learners will be full of luck and learning this month!

Ingredients You'll Need for the St. Patrick's Day Snack:

For this St Patrick's Day snack for kids, you'll need:

• Graham Crackers
• Tub of White Frosting
• Green Food Coloring
• Sprinkles
• Entenmann's Little Bites: Fudge Brownie
• Mini Marshmallows
• Yellow Squeezeable Icing
• Air Heads Extremes

Each student will need one brownie. There's 20 brownies in a box. Depending on the size of your class, you'll need one or two boxes.

How to Make the St. Patrick's Day Snack:

As I mentioned that this was one of my favorite activities for St. Patrick's Day. Besides being festive and colorful, I love that it is super kid-friendly and your little leprechauns will be able to make it all by themselves – and that makes for some confident kiddos!

I like to supply each student with a paper plate and all of the ingredients they will need. On each paper plate you'll want to have:

• 1 graham cracker
• A small dollop of green frosting
• 1 brownie bite
• 3 mini marhsmallows
• 1 – Airhead Extreme strip cut to 3.5″

I used about 8-10 drops of food coloring for the frosting. I always suggest to start with less and add more.  As the frosting sits, the color will start to saturate.  I highly recommend mixing it the night before the activity!  I give kids about 2 tablespoons of frosting to decorate.

How to Create the Pot of Gold:

I used the Wilton brand yellow icing from Wal-Mart.

If you can't find this icing, you can buy a tub of yellow frosting and have students spread a thick coat of frosting on the brownie. Another idea is to use white frosting and yellow sprinkles (or jimmies). 

 Squeeze the yellow icing on top of the brownie to create the gold pot.

Again, go a little heavier on the yellow icing to help the rainbow stick.

Assembling the Base for the Snack:

After the pot of gold has been made, the next step in this St Patrick's Day snack for kids is to make the base.

Spread the green frosting on top of the graham cracker. Encourage your little bakers to put a thick coat of frosting on the graham cracker. The frosting acts as the glue and gives the rainbow something substantial to stick to. If the frosting layer is too thin, the rainbow won't stand.

I add the sprinkles before adding the brownie because I don't want sprinkles all over the yellow frosting too. 

You can certainly add the sprinkles at a different time, though I don’t suggest adding it at the end, which is typically when we want to add sprinkles.  Once the snack is put together, it’s much harder to spread the sprinkles around it all.

Add the brownie to the left side of the graham cracker. Be sure to leave room for the rainbow!

How to Make the Rainbow:

The final step in this St Patrick's Day Snack for Kids is making the rainbow. This just might be my favorite part!

The Airheads Extreme package comes with 15 pieces.  You will need 2 packages for a class.  The Airhead strips are about 5 inches long, I cut them down to 3 ½ inches. 

If the strip too long, the rainbow will flop and won’t stand up. I tested a few lengths and 3 ½ inches seemed to be the magic number.

You'll want to attach one end of the rainbow in the pot of gold and the other end in the green frosting. This is why it's important to be a little generous with the frosting, that way the rainbow has something to help stand it up.

For the final step, add three marshmallows to the other side of the rainbow – then eat and enjoy this delicious St Patrick's Day snack for kids!

If you're reading this and St. Patrick's Day has already passed, pin the image below to remind you for next year.

I hope you love and the sweet little leprechauns in your life love this St Patrick's Day snack for kids

After you've made this St. Patrick's Day snack with your kids, be sure to tag me on Instagram (@ThePrintablePrincess) or send me a picture so that I can see! 

For more St. Patrick's Day ideas for kids, click here to check out this blog post.

1. Find it Fast

Have students gather on the rug or sit at their table spots. Call out a descriptor, for example ‘something square', or ‘something soft'. Each student must find an object that matches the description and get to it quickly.  Have each student hold up or point to the object they've chosen.

Give them time to look around the room and what their classmates have found. There are no right answers and it's super fun to see how their little minds work. Talk for a couple of minutes about their choices then call out another descriptor.

2. Musical Chairs…without Chairs

Here's a way to play this classic crowd-favorite in a safe, classroom-friendly way. Instead of using chairs, use carpet spots (or make your own with laminated construction paper).

Arrange the spots, just like you would chairs. Be sure to put a small distance between each spot to give students room to sit down. Just like in the traditional game, begin playing the music and have students walk around the spots. Once the music stops, students will quickly find the closest spot and take a seat. The person standing is out. Continue playing and removing a spot until there is only one player left.

If your group is too large for Chair-less Musical Chairs, divide students in to two groups. This way you can run two smaller, more manageable groups simultaneously. 

3. Flyswatter

Kids go nuts for this game! Before the game begins, prepare a poster or board with the answers to the questions you will be asking. For example, if your students are working on counting items, you might have pictures of 3 circles, 5 squares, 8 stars, etc. Or for addition, you might have numbers written on the board to match addition sentences. Large post-it pads work great for this game.

Now, divide your class into two teams and have them line up in two parallel lines. The first player from each team steps up to the answer board and is given a plastic flyswatter. You call out an answer, for example in the example above you might call out 8. The first player to swat the picture of 8 items wins and gets to stay in place. The other player goes to the end of his team's line and the next player steps up and you call out another answer.

There are tons of ways to tailor this game to support whatever concept you're currently working on. For example it's a great way to teach kids the difference between the words to, too and two and there, their and they're by using the word in a sentence and having the kids swat the right spelling. 

4. Movement Memory 

Have your students stand in one big circle. Pick one player to go first. That player will take a step forward into the circle and make a movement. For example, clap their hands three times. Then they step back into the circle. The player to their left then steps forward and claps three times then adds another movement such as jazz hands and steps back. The next player will then clap three times, do jazz hands, then add another movement.

Play continues around the circle, getting more difficult as more motions are added, until somebody forgets or makes the motions out of sequence. Play them starts again at the beginning again. The player who was last in the previous round gets to be first in the next round. 

5. Picnic

This activity is basically the same as the activity above, but it involves words instead of motions. It's great for building listening and focus skills.  The first player begins by saying, “In my basket for the picnic, I packed…” for example, “In my basket for the picnic, I packed sandwiches.” The next player would say “In my basket for the picnic, I packed sandwiches and lemonade.” Play continues as above then a new round starts. 

6. Freeze Dance

One of the best indoor recess games is this super fun classic, which is perfect for letting your students get their wiggles out. Put on some lively music and let the kids dance around the room. When the music stops, they must freeze until they hear the music begin again.  A surefire way to bring a happy vibe into your classroom. 

7. Listening Game

Show students a tray of items with common everyday items, for example a comb, a glass, a book, etc. Give them a minute or two to make sure they've seen all the options. Now cover or hide the tray and have one student step forward.

Have that student close their eyes and listen carefully as you choose one item from the tray and make whatever sound you can with it. For example, run a popsicle stick along the tines of the comb, or ping the glass with a spoon, or open the book and clap it back together.

Without looking, the student must guess which item from the tray is making the noise. Call up different students to guess until all of the items have been guessed. 

8. Alphabet Four Square

Have your students divide a dry erase board into four square with a dry erase marker. Label the quadrants Name, Place, Animal and Thing. Set a timer for few seconds. 

All together, sing the alphabet song until the timer goes off. Take note of which letter you stop on. Students must then write (or draw) something that starts with that letter for each box. For example for the letter M, they might write or draw mom, mountains, mouse and mug. 

After each round students can erase their boards and draw the quadrants again before the timer begins for the next round. 

9. Four Corners

Designate each corner of your classroom with a number  1 through 4. Then have the kids spread out and stand at one of the 4 corners. 

Select one child to sit in the middle and be the first counter. Have them close their eyes and count to 10. While they are counting, the other players can move around the classroom and choose a new corner to land on.

Before opening their eyes, the player in the middle calls out one of  the 4 numbers. The players in that corner are out and should sit down out of the way. 

Play starts again as the player in the middle closes their eyes and counts to ten and the rest of the players scramble around.  The last child standing in a corner is the winner!

For a fun twist on this game label each corner with a sight word instead of a number. Or a word family – and have the caller name a word from the word family. Everyone in that corner is out.

10. Hot, Cold

Pick an object to be the treasure, like a stuffed animal or a colorful water bottle. Designate one person to be the treasure hunter and have another student escort them just outside your classroom door.

While he or she is out of the room, decide as a class (quietly!) where to hide the treasure. Once it is safely hidden, the treasure hunter comes back in and begins to search.

The other players can only provide clues for the treasure hunter by telling them if they are hot (really close), warm (kind of close), cool (kind of far away), or cold (really far away). The treasure hunter continues to search until the treasure is found, then a new hunter is selected. 

11. Silent ball

Students sit or stand in a large circle. The object of the game is to toss a squishy ball around (they can toss it around the circle in any direction) without making a sound.

Start the game with “3-2-1 silent!” then get the ball started. Students are out if they talk or make noise, make a bad pass or don’t catch the ball.

Make it clear before the game that silly sounds like fake coughs or sneezes count as noises as much as talking. 

12. Human Knot

Group your students into circles of about 8-10 kids. Have each person in each circle take the hand of another person (doesn't have to be the person right next to them). Then have them join hands with a different person with their left hand. The object of the game is to untangle the human knot they've created without breaking the circle (without dropping hands).

13. Pass the Rubber Chicken

This is one of the most hilarious indoor recess games and worth the investment of one rubber chicken. First, teach your kids the Chicken Dance by showing them a tutorial on YouTube. 

To begin have your students sit in a circle and give the rubber chicken to one student. You will ask that student a question such as ‘Name six things that begin with the letter K'.  As soon as you've asked the question, they will pass the chicken to the person on their right and the other students will quickly pass it around hoping to pass it all the way back to the original person before they've had a chance to answer the question.  

If the chicken makes it all the way around before the answer is answered correctly the person has to stand and do the chicken dance. If they do answer the question before it makes it around, whoever is holding the chicken becomes the next one to answer a question. 

14. Museum Guard

Kids have so much fun pretending to be statues in a museum that come to life when the guard isn't looking. To begin, one person is appointed “guard,” and the rest of the students are appointed “statues”.

The guard stands at the edge of the classroom and turns his or her back. While his or her back is turned, the statues come to life and move and dance around (quietly!). Once the guard turns around, all of the statues have to freeze. If the guard catches a player moving, they're out. Play continues until there is only one statue standing.

15. Would you Rather

This game is a fun way for students to get to one another (and themselves!) a little better. Prepare the room by pushing desks aside and putting a long piece of tape on the floor down the middle of the classroom. Ask a question such as “Would you rather eat a spider or walk ten miles?” As you ask the question, point to one side of the tape or other so that students know which side of the room to move to to place their vote. Give students time to look around at who has the same opinion as them and who chose the other option.