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St. Patrick’s Day Activities

March 10, 2025

Embracing the Holiday Spirit to Focus on the Senses

St. Patrick’s Day provides a wonderful opportunity to incorporate fun, creative, and meaningful activities into school counseling sessions. Focusing on the senses, counselors can help students express emotions, build social skills, and develop self-awareness while embracing the holiday spirit. Below are some engaging St. Patrick’s Day-themed activities tailored for school counseling programs.


Drawing, Drama, and Dance Activities


1. "What’s at the End of Your Rainbow?" Drawing Activity

Encourage students to draw a rainbow and fill the pot of gold at the end with things that bring them joy, hope, or gratitude. This helps students focus on positive emotions and goal-setting.

2. "Leprechaun’s Dilemma" Role-Playing

Create a short scenario where a leprechaun faces a moral dilemma (e.g., "Should he share his gold with a friend who is struggling?"). Have students act out different solutions, helping them develop empathy and problem-solving skills.

3. "Irish Dance for Emotion Regulation"

Introduce students to simple Irish dance steps and discuss how movement helps with emotional expression and regulation. This is a fun way to relieve stress and build confidence through movement.


Music-Based Activities


4. "Lucky Playlist" – Mood-Boosting Music Activity

Ask students to create a “lucky” playlist—a list of songs that make them feel positive, confident, or motivated. Discuss how music affects emotions and how it can be used for self-care and mood management.

5. "Clapping to the Beat" Team-Building Game

Play traditional Irish music and encourage students to clap or drum along to the beat. This simple activity helps improve focus, mindfulness, and teamwork.


Literature-Based Activities


6. "The Luck Factor" Gratitude Journaling

Read a short St. Patrick’s Day-themed story about luck or gratitude. Then, have students write a journal entry about a time they felt lucky or grateful. This promotes self-reflection and a positive mindset.

7. "Leprechaun Letters" – Encouraging Kindness

Have students write anonymous encouraging notes to classmates as if they were friendly leprechauns. This builds self-esteem, kindness, and community.


Sensory Path Activities


8. "Follow the Shamrock Trail" – Mindful Walking Path

Create a St. Patrick’s Day-themed sensory path where students follow shamrocks with different movement-based prompts (e.g., “Hop like a leprechaun,” “Take deep breaths and think of something lucky,” “March like a parade”). This helps with focus, stress relief, and mindfulness.

9. "Gold Coin Hunt" – Movement and Coping Skills Game

Scatter gold coins (paper cutouts or foam coins) along a sensory path. Each coin has a coping skill or positive affirmation written on it (e.g., "Take 3 deep breaths," "You are brave and strong"). Students collect and read them aloud, reinforcing self-regulation techniques.


Final Thoughts


St. Patrick’s Day is more than just a fun holiday—it’s a chance to incorporate meaningful social-emotional learning experiences. By using drawing, drama, dance, music, literature, and sensory paths, school counselors can create an engaging, supportive environment that helps students build emotional resilience, self-awareness, and social skills while celebrating the spirit of the holiday. These activities ensure that students leave feeling lucky, confident, and connected!

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I am a school counselor turned counselor educator, professor, and author helping educators and parents to build social, emotional, and academic growth in ALL kids! The school counseling blog  delivers both advocacy as well as strategies to help you deliver your best school counseling program.

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I'm a mother, grandmother, professor, author, and wife (I'll always be his). Until October 20, 2020, I lived with my husband, Robert (Bob) Rose, in Louisville, Ky. On that awful day of October 20,2020, my life profoundly changed, when this amazing man went on to Heaven. After Bob moved to Heaven, I embraced my love of writing as an outlet for grief. Hence, the Grief Blog is my attempt to share what I learned as a Counselor in education with what I am learning through this experience of walking this earth without him. My mission is to help those in grief move forward to see joy beyond this most painful time. 

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