My “February Fun” resource round-up blog post was so popular last month that I thought I should do one highlighting my “March Art” activities. I never realized that St. Patrick’s Day was my favorite holiday until I started looking at all the resources I have created. It’s my grandmother’s favorite holiday too, so maybe my Irish blood took over for this holiday a wee bit. I’d be kidding myself to think all those people who were visiting my February post last month came to hear me ramble, I know it was for my Valentine’s Day freebie 
So of course, I’ll provide a few freebies in this post as well to help out my fellow teachers (but you have to read some of my rambling to get there!).
Art integration can be intimidating for classroom teachers that either, 1) don’t think they like art or 2) don’t think they can teach it–and that is where me and my resources come in.
My goal with any resource I create is to make your life as a teacher easier and to make learning fun for kids. Check out all my St. Patrick’s Day resources HERE. They are each described below with free resources included when available. I have lessons for integrating art into math and language arts, as well as student collaboration projects, drawing practice, and fine motors skill development–best of all, they are super simple for the teacher and super exciting for the students!
St. Patrick’s Day Interactive Coloring: I create interactive Pop Art coloring sheets for all major holidays and seasons. These sheets are great for so many reasons but mostly because just like the artists (students) that create them no two are ever the same. The pattern and color possibilities are endless and when you mix that with a child’s creativity you have an unmeasureable amount of options for creation. I also have writing prompts included for kids who finish early or for a way to use these sheets in your writing programs.
The best part about this particular set is that this is the FIRST set to also include 4 pattern-filled designs. I have teachers all the time asking me for the pre-pattern filled designs that are sometimes more appropriate for the younger kids or for differentiation. To give you a taste of what these pattern-filled coloring sheets are like, I have included a sample one for free HERE or by clicking on the image below (personal use ONLY). 
St. Patrick’s Day Math:I love using my Pop Art images to let the kids review their math facts–what kid can’t use extra math fact practice? This set of St. Patrick’s Day coloring sheets allow them to practice all of their multiplication/division facts and there is addition and subtraction practice as well. It’s so easy for the teacher and since the colors are non-traditional the kids can’t guess, they have to really do the math (don’t worry teachers the resource comes with an answer key for you). The best part about these math sheets is that they allow for very discreet differentiation. Since the designs are the same you could provide an advanced student with a division sheet and a struggling student with a subtraction sheet and it wouldn’t be obvious since the end results in colors are the same.
There are 4 designs for each set of math facts for a total of 16 sheets. My motto is “fun for the kids easy for the teacher!”
St. Patrick’s Day Sight Words: Sight words…seem like kind of a boring thing for kids so I set out to create my own idea of how to use sight words in an art project. I came up with my Pot of Gold Sight Words activity. This activity is a fun way to turn sight words into gold at the end of a rainbow. I provide the lists of sight words for the different levels along with the templates and instructions. The sight words are already on the paper–you simply copy them onto “gold” paper and let the kids trace around the letters (very low prep for the teacher). My kindergarten students love this project.
Celtic Knot Paper Activity: To challenge older students, grades 3-6, I created this Celtic Knot paper activity. It looks a lot harder than it really is, and that is what makes it so cool. I have even left this with a sub and it worked out great. The steps are broken down and all the templates are included. This is one of those “WOW” lessons–your students will be so proud of. The .pdf instruction set provided in this lesson can be projected on your white board and everyone in class can follow along with the steps. It’s really not that hard as it follows the basic over and under pattern used in weaving. Great fine motor skills practice!
In my experience kids LOVE celtic knots. If you aren’t convinced try these celtic knot design drawing practice sheets for FREE click HERE or on the image below to try these fun sheets.
Draw and paint a monochromatic leprecchaun: Kids love to draw and they L-O-V-E to paint…so why not use this awesome “green” holiday to teach them about the word monochromatic (one-color)? You can use watercolor or acrylic/tempera paint to create different values of green. This lesson is great for letting students play with mixing paints to see what happens!
In this lesson I provide kids with a step-by-step sheet for drawing and painting the leprechaun to include teaching students about tints and shades.
Kids have so much fun with this and the leprechauns often take on a personality similar to the student!
Collaboration group/door poster: I told you one of my main goals is to make your life as a teacher easier. I know there are only a small group of teachers that “enjoy” decorating their doors for the holidays. The rest of you are probably thinking “oh bother!” So last year I started designing door posters using my signature collaborative poster style. My collaborative leprechaun poster is the perfect poster to decorate your door for March. This poster is so super-duper easy (and fast) because each kid colors their one piece of the poster and then it gets put together to reveal a large leprechaun. No enlarging or crazy copying involved. Just print and go! When this poster is finished he is approx. 32″ x 56 ” and there are 28 pieces.
Since the kids can’t keep the finished poster I always like to give them a coloring sheet as a sample. It is free in my Teachers pay Teachers store by clicking HERE.
If you are still with me, thank you for reading my post, checking out my resources and snagging some free resources to try in your classroom. I truly believe art integration can be your best “tool” for engaging and motivating students.
Thanks for reading and for making art with your students.
Jenny K.