DLTK's Holiday Activities Five Green Shamrocks Felt Board Rhyme Give each child one of the templates and let them hold theirs up at the appropriate time in the rhyme (you can tape a straw or popsicle stick onto the bottom to make them like puppets...  The kids seem to like waving puppets around more than just holding up pieces of paper). You could also make the templates as felt board characters.  Simply glue a small piece of coarse sandpaper or felt onto the back of each template so it will hang on the felt board.  Place the pieces onto the felt board as you do the rhyme. Optional:  cover the templates in clear contact paper (bought as a roll from your local office supply store for under $5) to make them last longer.

One green shamrock, in the morning dew,'
Another one sprouted, 
and then there were two.

Two green shamrocks, growing beneath a tree;'
Another one sprouted,
and then there were three.'

Three green shamrocks, by the cottage door;'
Another one sprouted, 
and then there were four.

Four green shamrocks, near a beehive'
Another one sprouted, 
and then there were five.

Five little shamrocks, bright and emerald green,'
Think of all the luck 
these shamrocks will bring.

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
      
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template for the poem      (color)   or  (B&W)

print 1:  Shamrock 1 & 2   (color)   or  (B&W)

print 1:  Shamrock 3 & 4   (color)   or  (B&W)

print 1:  Shamrock 5          (color)   or  (B&W)

If you want to practice number identification with the kids, replace the shamrocks with faces with five copies of the Simple Shapes Clover.  Write the numbers 1 thru 5 in the center of the simple shapes clover.

Alternatively, you could let the children make the Katie the Clover or Sean the Shamrock paper crafts and use them for the poem

Printable version of these instructions