Are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with your little ones? If you have been here long, you know I love celebrating any and all holidays in my classroom! Last week I shared our fun Leprechaun Trap activity we do along with the book “How to Catch a Leprechaun” and if you missed it,  you can read about it here. 

We made a Leprechaun Juice sensory station the following day to continue the fun. If you are wondering what leprechaun juice is, it is not of the adult variety (although the Trader Joe’s cashier did ask if I was making margaritas when I bought the supplies). Our leprechaun juice is a simple three-step recipe any preschooler can follow. 

Setting Up Your Leprechaun Juice Station

First thing is to decide where to set up this sensory station. Since this activity involves liquid, I would always suggest an outdoor play space if the weather allows. I used my sensory table from Ikea, which has been one of my most used purchases.  

Next, I printed off all of the signs and task cards. All of the printables, including the recipe card, are available in the St. Patrick’s Day weekly lesson plan. Since you will be around liquids, laminating is a must! 

@preschoolpackets I’m not sure if Leprechauns drink juice, but they do now! 😂☘️ One of our favorite sensory bins so far! #howtocatchaleprechaun #catchaleprechaun #sensorytable #ikeasensorytable ♬ Good Vibes (Instrumental) - Ellen Once Again

The recipe for leprechaun juice is simply water, sugar, "green mix" (lemonade or kool-aid powder), and lime. I added a couple of drops of green food coloring to the lemonade powder to give it a bit of color, cut up the limes, and filled a pitcher with water. I then poured water into several plastic “pouring cups” that they could use to make their juice. 

Mixing Up Leprechaun Juice

When the kids arrived that morning, we read Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase and then I introduced the station and talked about what we were making. We go through the three steps, which is great practice for using those procedural words. 

 Then I let the kids take turns mixing up their own. Giving the little ones only a small amount of water at a time was key. I only poured about one cup of water into their “pouring cups” at a time, and only set out small amounts of the other ingredients in their mixing station to avoid them dumping everything in at once. 

Once the leprechaun juice was all mixed up, we tried it and talked about what it tasted like. It was so funny listening to the kids describe what their juice tasted like, and they got to use some taste vocabulary words we learned during our 5 Senses week.  

Leprechaun Juice Sensory Bin 

After our taste test, our mixing station became a sensory bin! Little ones could choose to make more juice, practice their pouring skills, or whatever else their heart desired. 

One of their favorite activities was just pouring the liquids back and forth, which is an amazing skill to practice. Squeezing the limes was great for strengthening those little hand muscles needed for writing later on. 

The kids loved the real-life pretend play and getting to make actual juice they were allowed to drink! Then switching gears to a sensory bin where they could direct their play made it even more exciting. 

If you haven’t tried out a pouring station before, I would highly recommend it. There are so many benefits, such as strengthing muscle control, exploring gravity, and cause and effect just to name a few. Plus you would be amazed at how long preschoolers stay engaged just pouring different liquids into various containers. 

Leprechaun Juice and Beyond 

If you have older preschoolers or are looking to direct the activity a bit more, you can use the leprechaun juice cards to prompt them. These cards (also in the weekly lesson plan) are great for learning measurement and could be used as a stand-alone math lesson as well. 

That’s the great thing about Leprechaun Juice, it can be adapted to whatever suits your classroom- a cooking activity, sensory bin, pouring station, or measurement lesson, you can do just one or all of them. 

And if you are looking for more activities to fill your St. Patrick’s Day week, check out my weekly lesson plan. It includes 5 days' worth of book recommendations, activities, and more.

Have your activities set, but just looking for some new books to read? Here are my favorites for the week. 

St. Patrick's Day Book Recommendations 

Have you made leprechaun juice with your kids? I would love to see it! Share or tag me on Instagram or in my Preschool Facebook Group!