National Pyjama Day 2023

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day !

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day !

It’s that time of year when children will be getting excited about St Patrick’s Day celebrations. This provides a wonderful opportunity to focus on children’s sense of identity and belonging.

Through listening to children as they play, through discussions at circle time and in connecting with parents, educators can understand and explore ideas about living in communities, what it means to be a certain nationality and participating in local events such as the Patrick’s Day Parade.

Here are some ideas that you may want to explore in your setting and which link with Aistear and Síolta.

Circle time

Prompt conversation with children who are interested by having a variety of props relating to St Patrick’s Day, e.g., shamrock, badges, flags, pictures of parades, green junk and art materials (paint, paper, ribbon, boxes)
This is a great chance for children to share their thoughts and experiences of St Patrick’s Day, so start  with a few open ended questions and give time for them to respond and share their own thoughts.

•    Who do you think St Patrick is?
•    What happens on St Patrick’s Day, in your house or in the local community?
•    What could we do here in the preschool to celebrate St Patrick’s Day?
•    Will you be going to the St Patrick’s Day parade?
•    What sort of things will you see in the parade?

Books and stories

Building on the theme of belonging, you can enhance the children’s sense of place and citizenship by selecting books and telling stories that relate to their lives in the here and now. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Hooray for St. Patrick’s Day by Joan Holub
    An interactive book where children can lift the flaps as they see the children in this book; make holiday crafts; taste traditional Irish food; perform a play about Saint Patrick and even march in a Saint Patrick’s Day parade.
  • Whoever you Are by Mem Fox
  • Come over to my House by Theo LeSieg
  • Wake Up, World! A Day in the Life of Children Around the World by Beatrice Holler

Children can  make their own books about St Patrick’s Day, or other festivals that are celebrated  where they live. All you need is paper, paints, markers, crayons and an attentive educator who will support the activity.
Some children might like to like to tell  their own stories and have them recorded by the adult.  The children may also want to draw a picture to link in with their story.

Informal chats with families

Let families know about the activities that the children are doing as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. Talk with families about their experiences of St Patrick’s Day when they were children, and what they will be doing this year. Remember that not all families will know St Patrick’s Day is the Irish national holiday so chat about that and ask about their own national holidays and note down when they take place.
St Patrick’s Day is an Irish tradition with rituals of its own. For those parents and families from other places across the globe,how do they celebrate and mark their national holidays? Maybe they could come into the setting and depending on their expertise help the children make instruments/teach songs/bake bread/ tell stories.

Building on interests – activities emerging from discussions

Talking with and listening to children provides educators with a window of opportunity to understand what and how they are thinking. In listening to the children’s ideas and experiences a whole range of exciting possibilities may emerge.  The challenge is to build on the  children’s interests. Coming back to chat about the celebrations after the big day is important.

•    What was their favourite float/person/thing in the parade in their town or on the television? How could we make this?
•    Planning our own parade – where could we have a parade?
•    What might we include in our parade? What sort of instruments might we use/make? What costumes will we wear?
•    Documenting how we made our own parade/costume etc with stories, drawing and painting pictures , photos,  videoing  our parade
•    Making cards for parents and family, especially those who may live away from Ireland
•    Baking Irish soda bread or icing biscuits with the colours of the Irish flag
•    Making green playdough and green slime to make sculptures of all sorts of things.
•    Growing shamrock-  sow outdoors from March to September and sow indoors all year round. When planted in early January you should have good-sized plants by Saint Patrick’s Day.

•   Creating masks (if the children show interest from the parade) or having a treasure hunt for lucky leprechaun gold.

Building on children’s interests shows respect for their ideas and allows us as practitioners to extend their themes across the curriculum. The ideas outlined above help children develop awareness of their place in the community, and lays the foundations for citizenship (participating in community life).  In celebrating  St. Patrick’s Day in a child led manner, Síolta Standards, Aistear themes and Regulation 5 are all touched upon.

Links  with Síolta:

Standard 14: Identity and Belonging

14.2 The setting promotes a confident self- and group-identity through the provision of an appropriate environment, experiences and interactions within the setting.

14.3 The setting promotes positive understanding and regard for the identity and rights of others through the provision of an appropriate environment, experiences and interactions within a setting.

Standard 16: Community and Involvement

16.2 The setting actively promotes children’s citizenship in their local ,regional and national community.
i.e. How do you enable babies and young children to be present/participate in events and activities within the community?-think about participation in community events (e.g St Patricks Day parade,market day etc)

Links with Aistear

Theme: Identity and Belonging – The theme of Identity and Belonging is about children developing a positive sense of who they are, and feeling that they are valued and respected as part of a family and community.

Theme: Communicating – Aim 3 Children will broaden their understanding of the world by making sense of experiences through language.

It might also be linked to : Building Partnerships between parents and practitioners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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