The pot of gold number cards will be a top contender for the number one spot on your list of St. Patrick’s Day activities for preschoolers!
You can use the printable St. Patrick’s Day number cards a variety of ways in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. This allows you to focus in on the specific early math concepts you’re exploring with your students. You can also easily make adjustments to how you use the gold coin numbers so as to differentiate for individual needs.
On top of that, the pot of gold cards are very easy to prep. You can have everything ready for your students to use tomorrow! And they pair well with a variety of manipulatives and loose parts.
Related: Free Preschool Printables
Providing the kids with themed activities leading up to a holiday is a great way to keep them engaged. Things like these St. Paddy’s Day number cards foster their excitement and anticipation of the holiday as they learn.
Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to get your copy of the free printable gold coin number cards!
Pot of Gold Number Cards
If you’re a regular reader of Fun-A-Day, then you probably already know that I’m not the biggest fan of worksheets in preschool. That’s why I love creating meaningful printables to use for engaging, hands-on activities.
The pot of gold number cards printable is a perfect example of that! They’re designed with no specific instructions so that they can serve a variety of purposes in the classroom. They are also super useful in open-ended activities to let kids lead the learning.
How to Prep the Gold Coin Number Cards
As I mentioned, preparing the gold coin number cards is super simple! Before jumping into the prep instructions, we need to go over the materials list. You won’t need many items for this activity. Here’s the list (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
See? A super simple list of materials! With that being said, the materials list might grow and evolve based on how you use the printable. Here are a few more items based on the activity ideas listed below:
Now that you’ve got all of the materials lined up, it’s time to prep the number cards and pot of gold mat! Here’s what to do:
- First, scroll to the bottom of this post to get your copy of the free printable pot of gold number cards.
- Next, save the file to your computer.
- Open the file in the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader.
- Print as many copies of the printable as you need.
- Then cut the number cards apart. You can leave the counting gold coins pot page as is.
- Finally, laminate the number cards and the pot of gold page.
Now the number cards and counting mat are ready to use!
How to Use the Pot of Gold Number Cards and Counting Mat
Now let’s get into using the number cards!
My favorite way to use the pot of gold number cards and counting mat is by pairing them with gold coins. First, place the cards and mat, along with a container full of coins.
Next, instruct students to select a number card and count out that number of cold coins, placing the coins on the mat as they go. This is a great way to practice one-to-one correspondence.
After that, challenge students with an addition activity. Have students select two cards at a time. First, they can count out the coins, stacking the correct amount on each card. Then they can dump both sets of coins on to the pot of gold counting mat. Finally, they can count how many coins there are in all.
For an even bigger challenge, turn it into a subtraction activity. To keep this simple for young learners, start with 10 gold coins every time. Then students can select a number card (1 – 10) and take away that amount of gold coins. Consider teaching students how to write out basic addition and subtraction problems. They can record their work as they go!
Some kids won’t be ready for this type of activity. And that’s perfectly okay! It’s important that we meet the kids where they are and move forward from there. You know your students best.
Open-ended printables like this make it easy to adjust activities to fit the needs of individual students without having to plan and implement an entirely different activity.
Additional Ways to Use the St. Patrick’s Day Numbers
As I mentioned, the pot of gold number cards are super versatile. As if the activities above aren’t good enough, there are even more ways to use them! Here are some of my favorite activity ideas:
- Lay out number cards in order, 1 through 10. Then have students place the correct amount of gold coins next to each card. They can practice comparing numbers to one another. This format is a definitive visual representation of how numbers, and amounts, compare with one another.
- Pair the cards with the rainbow corn sensory bin, kid-friendly tweezers, and a black kettle. Students will select a number card and sift through the dyed corn kernels in search of the gold. They will use the tweezers to grab the coins and place them in the cauldron, counting up to the correct number as they go.
- Instead of gold coins, let the kids use yellow play dough to create their own gold coins. Children will choose a card and form the correct amount of play dough coins, placing them on the counting mat as they go. If they’d rather form something other than gold coins as they count, that’s fine too!
- Alternatively, use the play dough to make number shapes. Kids can practice forming number shapes using the number cards as a model and the counting mat as a work surface. Some will smoosh the play dough into place. Others will opt to first roll out play dough “snakes,” and use those to form the shapes.
So many great ideas! And the best part is that you can tailor the activities to fit the students’ needs and meet them where they are.
How will you use the number cards? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
What Skills are Being Practiced with the Pot of Gold Number Cards?
There are so many early learning concepts and skills that the kids can explore within each of these activities.
Here are some of the early learning concepts and skills the kids will be exploring with the pot of gold number cards:
- One-to-one correspondence
- Number words
- Fine motor skills
- Counting
- Sensory integration
- Number identification
- Number formation
- Fine motor skills
- Numerical order
- Patterns
- Addition
- Subtraction
This list is full of some really meaningful early learning skills. But it’s certainly not a complete list. There are countless learning opportunities to be had with the pot of gold number cards!
Remember to scroll to the bottom of this post for your free copy of the pot of gold number cards and counting mat!
More St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids
St. Patrick’s Day is such a fun and stress-free holiday. And the kids love celebrating it with classroom activities and crafts! Here are some other fun and engaging St. Patrick’s Day activities:
It’s a great start to a well-rounded preschool unit all about St. Patrick’s Day!
St. Patrick’s Day Lesson Plans
Teaching preschool can be so much fun! And it’s certainly one of the most rewarding careers. That being said, many teachers find lesson planning to be stressful and time-consuming. And that’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in! We have hundreds of themed lesson plans, activity packs, and teaching resources.
Children explore literacy, math, science, and more with our St. Patrick’s Day Lesson Plan product. Click on the image below to learn more about this product.
Check out some other resources that will compliment the St. Patrick’s Day lesson plans and serve you well throughout spring:
If these resources seem like they will fit well with your teaching style, consider becoming a Preschool Teacher 101 member. Members get regular access to our products at a steeply discounted rate.
Free Printable Pot of Gold Number Cards
The St. Patrick’s Day number cards are available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re a member, fill out the form below and the download links will be sent to your inbox. If you’re not a member, you can join us by entering your information in the form. Then you’ll receive the printable as a welcome gift!
Be sure to check out my printing FAQ page if you run into any issues.
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