sensory-play – Kindy Play

This past week, our classroom was filled with leprechaun magic, rainbow adventures, and playful learning as we celebrated L is for Leprechaun Week! The excitement was palpable as students engaged in hands-on, play-based activities that incorporated literacy, math, science, and creative storytelling. Here’s a peek into the golden moments that made this week so special!

Storytelling & Literacy Fun

Each morning, we kicked off our day with a themed read-aloud. From How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace to Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie dePaola, our books sparked lively discussions and imaginative storytelling.

Letter L Writing: Students practiced forming the letter L using rainbow-colored chalk on black paper, making their letters pop just like a vibrant rainbow after a spring rain.

If I Found a Pot of Gold… This creative storytelling activity had students imagining what they would do if they stumbled upon a leprechaun’s treasure. Their ideas ranged from buying unlimited candy to sharing gold with their family—pure kindergarten magic!
A Letter to a Leprechaun: Students wrote letters asking leprechauns their most pressing questions. “Do you ever get tired of running away?” and “How do you make rainbows?” were some of our favorites!

Leprechaun Math Adventures

Math took on a lucky twist this week as we explored numbers, patterns, and measurement through our St. Patrick’s Day-inspired centers.

Counting Gold Coins – Students used gold coins for counting, addition, and even some sneaky subtraction where the “leprechaun” stole some away!
Graphing Lucky Charms – A tasty math activity where we sorted and graphed the different shapes found in Lucky Charms cereal. Who knew math could be so delicious?
Measuring Leprechaun Footprints – Using rulers, students estimated and measured tiny (and some not-so-tiny) footprints left behind by mischievous leprechauns.

Patterning with Rainbows – Beads and pom-poms helped students create colorful patterns, reinforcing early math skills in a hands-on way.

Leprechaun Traps & Engineering Fun

One of the biggest highlights of the week was our Leprechaun Trap STEM challenge! Using craft sticks, pipe cleaners, gold coins, and glue, students designed their own traps in hopes of catching a sneaky leprechaun. Their creativity was through the roof—some even designed elaborate pulley systems and hidden doors! While no leprechauns were caught, a few mysterious footprints were discovered the next morning… 👀🍀

Sensory & Small World Play

Our exploration stations brought even more magic into the classroom!

Sensory Bin: A mix of colored rice, shamrocks, and hidden gold coins provided a fun way for students to dig and discover.

Rainbow Science Experiment: Using Skittles and water, we watched as the colors swirled together, creating a mesmerizing rainbow effect.
Dramatic Play: Students created their own Shamrock Shake Cafe

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shamrock-Shake-Shop-Preschool-St-Patricks-Day-Dramatic-Play-Center-7793278

Small World Play: Our tiny Leprechaun Village let students build and imagine what life might be like in a leprechaun’s world.

Leprechaun Celebration Day!

Friday was the grand finale—a Leprechaun Celebration Day! Students were greeted at the door by the mischevious leprechauns who left a big mess for them to clean up that morning. We then checked our leprechaun traps to see if we caught anything overnight. No leprechauns were caught but they did leave some chocolate coins for us. We wrapped up the week with our Leprechaun Bridge Challenge, where students worked together to construct bridges strong enough to hold a pot of gold!

As the day ended, we were left with glitter-covered tables, laughter-filled memories, and a classroom full of budding writers, mathematicians, and engineers. We took this opportunity to say goodbye to the leprechauns in the hopes that they would leave more messes for us to clean up

This week was a perfect example of how play-based, hands-on learning keeps students engaged and excited about exploring new concepts. L is for Leprechaun, but it’s also for Learning, Laughter, and Lots of Fun! 🍀🌈✨

Stay tuned for our next adventure—there’s always more magic to come in kindergarten!

This week in Kindergarten was a colorful and vibrant celebration of rainbows! Our classroom was transformed into a rainbow wonderland, with rainbow activities and materials that sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow.

At the science table, we died popcorn to use in our sensory table next week. We had a great time watching the popcorn over the day to see if it changed color. The students had great time shaking it and exploring it, a great little way to incorporate some science learning into your day. Helpful hint: use lids that seal properly if you are giving students the freedom to look and explore with it.

The literacy table featured Rainbow Bump, a game that combined literacy skills with a rainbow theme. The math table also had Rainbow Bump, providing a fun and engaging way for the children to practice their alphabet skills while exploring the colors of the rainbow.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rainbow-Alphabet-Bump-11389340

One of the highlights of the week was planting the fairy garden with flowers. We are so excited to watch it grow over the coming weeks!

The sensory table was a big hit, filled with rainbow orb beads that shimmered and sparkled as the children played and explored. It was a wonderful sensory experience that engaged their senses and sparked their imagination.

We started the week with our usual introduction to the letter Q, brainstorming words that start with Q. This led to a fun and creative directed drawing of a quail for the letter q. The children showed great enthusiasm and creativity as they brought their quails to life on paper.

The week started with a “The world Made a Rainbow” read aloud. A great way to introduce the colors of the rainbow and to reinforce that rainstorms eventually come to an end.

Our rainbow week in Kindergarten continued to be a colorful and exciting adventure, filled with creativity and learning. We delved deeper into our Froggy books, exploring the elements of a story and learning about problems and resolutions.

We started to talk about how every story has a problem and a resolution, and we practiced putting a problem and resolution into our own stories. It was amazing to see the children’s creativity shine as they came up with their own storylines and solutions through story workshop.

On Wednesday, we had a blast making beautiful water color rainbows. This art activity was a fun exploration into different art mediums, and the children were thrilled to see the vibrant colors come to life on their paper. It was a great way to incorporate our rainbow theme into our art lesson and allow the children to express their creativity.

Throughout the week, the children continued to explore and play with all the rainbow-themed activities in our classroom. The color mixing station at the science table was a popular spot, as was the sensory table with its rainbow orb beads. The literacy and math tables with Rainbow Bump remained favorite activities, providing a fun and educational way for the children to practice their skills.

We also kicked off our Jump Rope for Heart this week with our first assembly and we are so excited to practice our skipping skills before our big event in May!

Overall, it was a week filled with creativity, learning, and fun. The children were fully engaged in all the activities and showed great enthusiasm for exploring the colors of the rainbow. I’m so proud of all their hard work and creativity, and I can’t wait to see what other adventures await us as we continue to explore and learn in Kindergarten!

Tag: sensory-play

L is for Leprechaun: A Magical Week in Kindergarten!