St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect time to add a little magic to sensory play. These St. Patrick's themed sensory ideas bring the holiday to life with vibrant greens, shimmering gold, lucky shamrocks, sparkling coins, and colourful rainbows.
Engaging in hands-on activities like slime, sensory bins, and sensory bottles not only sparks creativity but also supports fine motor skills, focus, and self-regulation. Whether your child loves squishing, scooping, or splashing, these sensory activities provide a fun and engaging way to celebrate Irish culture while exploring different textures, colours and items.
ST PATRICK'S DAY SLIME RECIPES
Slime is a fantastic stretchy, gooey sensory experience that helps build finger and hand strength as children mould, pull and stretch the slime. Many different types of slime can be used to celebrate St Patrick's Day including rainbow, green, gold, or any slime with clovers {shamrocks} or coins. Here's a few of our favourite St Patrick's Day slime ideas.
Rainbow Slime
Create a semi transparent rainbow with this easy glue based rainbow slime recipe. Follow the instructions at 123 Homeschool 4 Me to make this oozy, gooey slime. As the kids play with the slime the rainbow colours will eventually mix together.
Rainbow Glitter Slime
Add a bit of sparkle to the rainbow with this easy rainbow glitter slime. This recipe is Elmer's glue and starch based and is very stretchy and gooey. Follow the recipe at Left Brain Craft Brain to create your own. Please note that the colours will mix together easily as it's played with.
Fluffy Rainbow Slime
If your kids prefer the texture of light, fluffy slime then try this fluffy rainbow slime. The light and airy texture is because this is a shaving cream based slime. You can get the recipe from Little Bins for Little Hands.
Green Glitter Slime
This green glittery slime is perfect for celebrating the luck of the Irish! With only 4 main ingredients this is an easy Elmer's glue based slime recipe. Follow the instructions at Design Dazzle to make your own.
Shamrock Slime
This shamrock slime is soft and gooey and full of glittery sparkle. To make it you'll need Elmer's clear glue, contact solution and lots of St Patrick's Day themed confetti. Follow the instructions at Messy Little Monsters to make your own.
Gold Glitter Slime
All that glitters is not gold, however this gold glitter slime is pretty close! This stretchy glittery slime is also made with a base of Elmer's glue just like the previous green glittery slime. Follow the instructions at The Craft at Home Family to make up a batch of dazzling gold slime.
ST PATRICK'S SENSORY BOTTLES
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with these mesmerising sensory bottles. These mess-free sensory bottles allow children, even babies, to safely explore colours and materials without the worry of spills or choking hazards. Perfect for little hands, they provide a calming and engaging way to visually experience sensory play, while keeping everything safely contained.
Please always make sure your sensory bottles are adequately sealed either with tape or glue and always use them under adult supervision.
Shamrock Sensory Bottle
Children will be mesmerised watching the shamrock and gold confetti slowly fall to the bottom of this shamrock sensory bottle. This one is a classic glue based calm down sensory bottle, with a very Irish twist. Follow the instructions at Messy Little Monster to make your own.
St Patrick's Day Sensory Bottles
These St Patrick's Day sensory bottles from Pocket of Preschool represent lots of different aspects of St Patrick's Day, including a rainbow with gold coins at the bottom, gold glittery coins and lots of green.
The rainbow sensory bottle incorporates dry elements like pom poms and gold pearl beads to create an I-spy style sensory bottle, while the other two are liquid based and children can watch the elements float and fall as the bottles are shaken then settle.
Rainbow Sensory Bottle
Want to make a real life rainbow where you can see the individual colour layers? The answer is this rainbow sensory bottle. Created using layers of different coloured hair gel, each coloured layer will stay separate for up to a few weeks {provided your children don't shake it}. Follow the instructions at Preschool Inspirations to make your own.
Rainbow Water Bead Sensory Bottle
Another way to create a rainbow with separate layers is this rainbow water bead sensory bottle. If you add the water beads in the correct rainbow order they should stay relatively well separated, however they may get some movement between layers if the bottle is shaken a lot. Follow the instructions at Active Littles and make sure the sensory bottle is well sealed as water beads are a choking hazard for children and pets.
ST PATRICK'S DAY SENSORY BINS
Packed with rainbows, shamrocks, gold coins, and all things green, these sensory bins are perfect for little hands to explore, scoop, and sort. The following St Patrick's Day sensory bin ideas feature a mix of taste safe activities and some bins that are only suitable for children who are no longer mouthing.
4 Leaf Clover Sensory Bin
This super simple green clover sensory bin from My Bored Toddler is a great way to include toddlers in some St Patrick's Day sensory Play. Toddlers can enjoy feeling the different textures of the pom poms and foam clovers and transferring them with scoops.
St Patrick's Day Water Sensory Play
Kids love playing with water and this St Patrick's Day sensory bin from Happy Toddler Playtime is a really simple way to mix green and gold items with water. Children can transfer the items as well as splashing, filling and pouring the water from containers.
Green Water Sensory Bin
Another great way to incorporate water into St Patrick's sensory play is with this green water sensory bin from Fantastic and Fun Learning. This one is for older children who no longer mouth and will need close supervision as it includes water beads {or you can omit them from your sensory bin}.
Green Sensory Bin
Grab some green Easter grass early and use if for a green St Patrick's Day sensory bin like this one from Conserva Mom. Once you're done with this sensory bin keep the grass and reuse it for some Easter sensory play during April.
Pot of Gold Sensory Bin
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Legend has it that leprechauns hide their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, so it just makes sense to do a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow sensory bin for St Patrick's Day. We didn't find an elusive leprechaun, but we did have a small wooden rainbow and lots of gold coins.
Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin
Our favourite sensory bin base is rainbow rice and it just happens to be perfect for St Patrick's Day. It can also be kept and reused for up to a few years if it's stored correctly. Follow our rainbow sensory rice recipe to make your own taste safe rainbow rice for play. You can use it in a sensory bin with a few scoops and containers, or add in any other loose parts that suit your theme e.g. shamrocks and coins for St Patrick's Day.
Rainbow Gelatine Cubes
Jelly is a super fun cold, solid, but super squishy sensory base for kids to poke and squeeze. You can make a rainbow sensory bin by making individual colours and then cutting them into cubes. To avoid any sugar highs use unflavoured gelatine like No Time for Flash Cards as it will create the same texture of jello without the sweet flavour.
Rainbow Spaghetti Sensory Bin
Spaghetti is also a fun squishy, slippery sensory base for children to explore. Follow the instructions at Mommy Evolution to dye the spaghetti in rainbow colours. Sensory spaghetti is only good for one day so will need to be discarded after children have finished playing.
More St Patrick's Day Ideas for Kids
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