I wanted to have some fun with my class because I feel so darn lucky to be their teacher! So a St. Patrick’s Day minute to win it challenge seemed like the perfect activity. It’s fun and encourages teamwork. Mostly, I just like to hear them laugh. Warms my teacher heart!
I started by splitting my class into six teams:
- Leprechaun
- Clover
- Rainbow
- Green
- Gold
- Lucky
For each of the challenges, one person from each team would complete. By the end, each student would have an opportunity to compete for their team and opportunities to cheer for their teammates. You could allow every student to get a turn at each activity but I was a little low on time and supplies. I found this way to be lots of fun and a tad bit easier to run.
Here is a look at our St. Patrick’s Day minute to win it challenges….
Marshmallow Stack
Students were given a set of chopsticks and a pile of marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal. They had one minute to see how many marshmallows they could stack. They couldn’t use their fingers–only the chopsticks. If the tower fell over, they had to start over. The team with the highest tower at the end of the minute was the winner. It is challenging!
Color Sort
Each team was given a bag of Cap’n Crunch’s All Berries cereal. (I was going to use Trix but it didn’t have as many different colors. It would still work though. Fruit Loops or Skittles would also work.) They had to sort the cereal by color into cups. The first team to have all of their cereal properly sorted was the winner.
Threading Loops
For this challenge, students were given a pile of Fruit Loops and a pipe cleaner. They had one minute to thread the fruit loops onto the pipe cleaner. The real challenge though? They can only use one hand! The team with the most loops on their pipe cleaner at the end of one minute was the winner.
Inhaling Skittles
For this challenge, teams were given a pile of Skittles, a cup and a straw. The student had to use the straw to move the Skittles from the pile and into their cup. The team with the most candies in their cup after a minute was the winner.
Rainbow Balancing Act
For this competition, students get a popsicle stick and a pile of Fruit Loops. Students put the popsicle stick in their mouth and use their hands to make a stack of Fruit Loops on the end of the stick. The team with the highest stack after one minute is the winner. They will drop their whole stack a couple times! It is not easy. But it is lots of fun!
Piles of Treasure
For this final challenge, the student will need a large pile of pennies. They will have one minute to stack the pennies. The team with the largest stack at the end of one minute is the winner.
For each competition the winning team (or teams if there is a tie) gets a point. At the end of all six challenges, the points are added up. The winning team receives a gold medal! It is just a gold candy that is hot glued to ribbon. Use a rainbow of ribbon colors to carry on the St. Patrick’s Day theme!
My students had a blast with these St. Patrick’s Day minute to win it challenges and I am glad that we took a break from test prep to just enjoy each other. Sometimes you have to do that!
St. Patrick’s Day PBL
Looking for more fun St. Patrick’s Day activities? Why not try our St. Patrick’s Day PBL?
In this fun activity, student will help Lucky the leprechaun open a shoe store (according to Irish legend, leprechauns are shoemakers). They’ll be practicing essential math skills, like time, money, elapsed time, adding, subtracting, graphs, and data, but they’ll be having so much fun with this real world based task, they won’t even realize they are learning.
This activity is super easy to prep and use. All you have to do is print and teach. It’s designed for grades 2-5. There are two different versions (one for lower grades and one for upper grades) making it super easy to differentiate. Each version includes eight different activities.
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If you loved those minute to win it ideas, you’ll also love these fun and easy ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the classroom.
Have a Not So Wimpy Day,
What a fun collection of activities! (And I love the medals!) This was such a inspiring post and it made me want to try some of these things with my own kiddos. Thanks for sharing your ideas and your cheerful attitude!
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
I am an avid reader who likes engaging content. That's why I am here. Your original views on this topic are refreshing and interesting. You've done a great job of expressing your views. Thank you.
I appreciate your teaching method to students with different games that are very helpful for kids in the classroom.
I love the staff how they manage to make this great event.
Thank you for sharing!! Totally doing this for our St. Patty’s Homeschool Party today! Such fun, simple ideas!!
I’m glad this gave you some fun ideas! I hope your party was a success!
Thanks. when i was in china for work. i felt very disappointed that there is no holiday for this special occasion. I missed this years holiday. Am eager to celebrate next time.