Use the free St. Patrick’s Day tracing printable to practice fine motor skills in a wide variety of ways. This is a great addition to your list of St. Patrick’s Day activities for preschoolers!
You can get the printable at the very bottom of this post.
It’s important to start working with children on their fine-motor skills at a young age. Building hand and finger strength starting in preschool, or even earlier, has proven to be very beneficial for students as they progress not only through their schooling, but in their daily living skills as well.
As adults, we often take our fine-tuned dexterity for granted. But children need a little extra help building those skills. Here are just a few things that children use their fine motor muscles for:
- Drawing
- Writing
- Dressing themselves
- Feeding themselves
- Playing with toys
- Using scissors
And this is why we like giving preschoolers every opportunity to practice fine motor skills, like with these beaded shamrocks. Everything from playing with LEGO to coloring a picture allows students to further develop those skills. And these St. Patrick’s Day tracing strips are no exception!
St. Patrick’s Day Tracing Printable
I put together a simple printable that can be used for a wide variety of fine-motor practice activities. And this set is themed around St. Patrick’s Day!
Related: Free Preschool Printables
Setting Up For The Fine Motor Fun
This set-up for the St. Patrick’s Day tracing strips is super simple. And regardless of the activities that you choose to do with them, you won’t need many materials. But your materials will depend on how you want to use the strips.
Here are a few materials that you might need:
First, enter your email at the bottom of this page to receive your printable. Then, using the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader, open the file. Hopefully, this will keep you from running into any issues with printing. I would also suggest saving a copy in case you need it in the future.
Then you’ll have to decide if you want multiple uses out of the St. Patrick’s Day tracing strips, or if you want the students to use them only once.
Next, print them out. This particular printable consists of four total pages, each with three strips. If you want to use the strips as a classroom set, you’ll only need to print one copy. If you want to give a copy to each student, just print accordingly. Or, of course, you could print a few copies to use in both ways!
If you choose to create a classroom set, I would highly suggest placing them in a dry-erase pocket or cutting the strips and laminating them.
How to Use the St. Patrick’s Day Tracing Strips
As I mentioned before, this St. Patrick’s Day tracing printable can be used in so many fun and engaging ways.
I’ll outline a few different ways to use these printables. But first, I’ll go over the additional materials you might need to do the various activities with the kids:
- St. Patrick’s Day erasers
- Small “gold” coins
- Shamrock stickers
- Dry-erase markers
- Real clovers
- Children’s safety scissors
Manipulatives
First, I thought it would be fun to “trace” the lines with small manipulative, like the green foam triangles shown in the photo below.
You could also use things like mini erasers (St. Patrick’s Day-themed, of course!), small gold coins, or larger pieces of confetti! Include tongs with the activity to give the children a bigger challenge.
Another great manipulative to use are real clovers! Take the kids out in the spring sunshine and let them search for clovers in the grass. Make sure to play some St. Patrick’s Day songs for preschoolers while they hunt for their clovers! Then use the clovers to trace the lines. You never know – one of the children might even get “lucky” and find a four-leafed clover!
Finger Tracing
The next activity idea is super simple. If the St. Patrick’s Day tracing strips are laminated or placed in dry-erase packets, they will feel smooth to the children’s fingers.
Another great idea would be to trace the lines with glitter glue (or let the kids do this!) Then, when the glitter dries, the kids can run their fingers over the rough lines.
Markers
The most obvious use of the tracing papers would be to trace them with a marker! Once the tracing strips are laminated or placed in the dry-erase packets, let the kids trace them with dry-erase markers. The kids will get a lot of fine-motor practice with both the tracing and the erasing!
Of course, if you don’t use a laminator or dry-erase pockets, let the kids choose a writing utensil of their choice and have at it!
Rewriting and Coloring
Using the tracing strips as a model, let the kids pick out their preferred writing utensils and draw the lines out on their own. You may be surprised at how accurately they copy the patterns in the lines. Better yet, set out a shallow, flat dish of sand and let the kids copy the lines in the sand using their fingers!
On the other hand, children get a ton of fine motor practice with coloring. I think they will really enjoy the kids coloring pages for St. Patrick’s Day!
Stickers and Cut Outs
This last idea is always a favorite. Give the children some sticker sheets and let them “trace” the line with the stickers. Plucking the stickers off and sticking them on the line is amazing for the children’s fine-motor development. And, not to mention, all preschoolers LOVE stickers!
You can also use small cutouts in place of stickers. Why not grab a shamrock hole punch?! Let the kids work their hands as they punch out shapes before giving their fingers a workout?
Related: Shamrock Sensory Bin
Cutting Practice
Even though we didn’t do so this time around, these fine motor strips are also perfect for cutting practice!
Let the kids start on the left and cut along the line to get to the pot of gold. The lines on this printable are a little thicker, making a larger “target” for the kids’ scissors. If you need it to be even wider, add some stickers to the lines prior to cutting!
How will you use the St. Patrick’s Day tracing printable with your students? Make sure to let us know in the comments below!
St. Patrick’s Day Lesson Plans
If you enjoyed the themed tracing printable, you’re going to LOVE the St. Patrick’s Day lesson plans from Preschool Teacher 101!
This product is jam-packed with over 225 pages of magical fun and learning. From math to literacy concepts, and everything in between, these lesson plans are perfect for your classroom this March.
Click on the image below to learn more about the product.
It’s your lucky day! When you put your name on the waiting list to join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101, you’ll have regular access to our products. Check out some of our other resources by clicking the images below.
Get Your Free St. Patrick’s Day Tracing Printable
This free printable is available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. Just enter your information in the form below to have it sent to your inbox.
Not a member? No worries! You can join us by entering your information in the form below. You’ll receive a copy of the St. Patrick’s Day cutting and tracing printable as a welcome gift.
Please be sure to read the printing FAQ if you run into any trouble.
If you can’t see the above form, click here to access it.
The post St. Patrick’s Day Tracing Printable for Preschoolers appeared first on Fun-A-Day!.