Luck is in the air! Being Irish, I’ve always loved St. Paddy’s Day, but it is often a holiday that comes and goes in the classroom without much notice other than wearing our green. Now, I’ve created five St. Patrick’s Day activities using new STEM design challenges that will be a fantastic way to pay tribute to the day! Almost better than finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, right?
Use the table of contents to navigate to a quick description of 5 of my fabulous St. Patrick’s Day STEM activities, plus video walk-throughs and teaching resources for each one!
Table of Contents
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activity 1: Guard the Leprechaun Gold
For leprechauns, life is a constant struggle to protect their pot of gold from treasure hunters and keep from getting caught themselves!
Working against criteria & constraints individually or in partners/groups, students will design and build one or more devices to help a leprechaun guard his pot of gold from thieves.
Learn more in the video walk-through and the teaching resource below.
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activity 2: Get the Leprechaun Gold
Working against criteria & constraints individually or in partners/groups, students design and build one or more devices to transfer leprechaun gold from his pot to their own.
Learn more in the video walk-through and the teaching resource below.
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activity 3: Leprechaun Trap
You may know that leprechauns have the ability to grant three wishes to human captors in exchange for their freedom, but capturing leprechauns in this St. Patrick’s Day activity is trickier than it sounds!
Working in groups against criteria & constraints and equipped with a Leprechaun Lore List, students will design and build a device to lure and safely capture a leprechaun. (Rolling balls are used to symbolize the swift movement of leprechauns.)
Learn more in the video walk-through and the teaching resource below.
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activity 5: St. Pat’s Snake Snatcher
- Snakes (10 – 20) are spread over a map of Ireland. Student devices must lift snakes from Ireland and drop them in the surrounding ocean.
- Introduce mimics to increase the difficulty!
Learn more in the video walk-through and the teaching resource below.
St. Patrick’s STEM Activity 5: Limitless Luck
Pennies found face up, horseshoes, and four-leaf clovers have long been symbols of luck. This St. Patrick’s Day activity combines an element of each famous symbol. Originally conceived as an introduction to probability, in this challenge, students “make” their own luck by creating a four-leaf flying disc designed to always land face-up. A horseshoe-like game called four-leaf frisbee was added as an extension for a little extra St. Patrick’s Day fun.
Learn more in the video walk-through and the teaching resource below.
Grab the entire bundle to get all of these St. Paddy’s Day STEM activities and make this the best St. Patrick’s Day ever! 🥰
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