Looking for some fun ways to extend St. Patrick's Day play? Here's an activity for children to practice color recognition and large motor skills!
Who knows–maybe they'll even find a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow run! Happy St. Patty's Day!
The children will identify colors, listen for directions, and improve their large motor skills in this activity!
Vocabulary
• blow
• flag
• move
• run
• streamer
• wind
Related Children's Books
• Red, Blue, Yellow Shoe by Tana Hoban
• Why is the Sky Blue? by Chris Arvetis
Materials
2’ segments of crepe paper streamers in different colors (or strips of colored fabric)
What to Do
1. Invite the children to line up on one side of the playground.
2. Hand each child a colored streamer.
3. Stand on the opposite side of the playground and call out, "Red run over."
4. Children holding the red streamers raise their streamers high in the air and run to the other side of the playground.
5. Repeat the command using a different color name.
6. Children will enjoy running with the streamers blowing in the wind as they move across the playground.
7. Continue until every color group has come across. Repeat the activity several times, allowing children to exchange colors with classmates for each round of the game.
Song: "See Our Colors Fly" by Mary J. Murray (Tune: "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush")
This is the way we run across,
run across, run across.
This is the way we run across to see our colors fly.
Assessment
• Observe the children to see if they recognize their color when you call it.
• Display an assortment of crepe paper streamers. Ask one child to pick up a specific color and wave it in the air.
• Place the streamers end to end. Invite the children to walk along the length of streamers and name each color as they pass by.
-Mary J. Murray, Mazomanie, WI
