Saint Patrick’s Day is one of those themes that just gets students excited. The colors, the legends, the vocabulary — it’s the perfect excuse to make your ESL classroom a little more fun without sacrificing learning. Let’s have a look at these 7 Saint Patrick’s Day ESL activities your students will actually love.
🍀 KEY TAKEAWAYS
✅ 7 ready-to-use Saint Patrick’s Day activities for A1–A2 ESL learners
✅ Covers vocabulary, reading, speaking, memory & game-based learning
✅ Works for in-person, hybrid and fast-finisher contexts
✅ Free crossword + wordsearch to download below 👇
📋 Table of Contents
→ 1. Vocabulary Flashcards
→ 2. Dominoes
→ 3. I Have, Who Has
→ 4. Spot & Bark (Dobble-style)
→ 5. Kim’s Game
→ 6. Boom Cards – Vocabulary
→ 7. Boom Cards – Reading activity
→ 🎁 Grab Your Free Activities
Whether you’re teaching 8-year-olds or teenagers, Saint Patrick’s Day lands every time. Below are the 7 activities I created for my A1–A2 bundle — with tips on how to actually use them in class, not just print them and hope for the best.
👉 Download the free activities
1. 🃏 Vocabulary Flashcards
Best for: whole class warm-up or pair work review
If there’s one resource I always start with, it’s the flashcards. Saint Patrick’s Day has specific vocabulary students don’t encounter every day — leprechaun, shamrock, pot of gold, fiddle — and flashcards make it visual and memorable.
🐾 Classroom activity: The Relay Race
This one is loud, fast, and students BEG to play it again.
- Divide the class into 2 or 4 teams.
- Give them 2 minutes to study the flashcards as a group.
- Then, in a queue at the board, each student writes ONE word from the flashcards — without repeating what the previous teammate wrote.
- Timer: 1 minute per round. Most words on the board wins.
It activates memory, spelling and team dynamics all at once. Works beautifully as a 10-minute starter.
2. 🁽 Dominoes
Best for: small groups of 2–4 students
20 cards. Simple rules. Huge engagement. Dominoes work because students have to actively recognize vocabulary — both the image AND the word — to make a match.
How to play:
- Each player draws 5 dominoes. The rest become the pile.
- The first player places a domino on the table.
- The next player matches either the word or the image on either end.
- No match? Draw from the pile.
- The first player with no dominoes left wins.
It’s low-prep, high-interaction, and it runs itself once you explain the rules once.
3. 🗣️ I Have, Who Has
Best for: whole class — great for listening and speaking
This is a classic for a reason. Every student holds a card. One student reads theirs, and the student whose card matches has to respond. It goes around the whole class.
Example: “I have Saint Patrick. Who has snake?”
Nobody can zone out — everyone has to listen for their card. Perfect for a Friday activity or a review session before a holiday.
4. 🐕 Spot & Bark (Dobble-style)
Best for: group of 3 students — fast-paced and competitive
This is my corgi-themed version of Dobble. 21 cards, 5 symbols each — and every two cards always share exactly one matching symbol. Students race to spot it first and name it in English.
The beauty of this game: it’s pure vocabulary recognition under pressure. Speed, focus, and English all at once. Students don’t even realize they’re studying.
Works great as a brain break or a reward activity.
5. 🧠 Kim’s Game
Best for: whole class — memory + vocabulary
Kim’s Game is a memory classic adapted for ESL. Show students a grid of Saint Patrick’s Day images. They study it carefully. Then one image disappears — and they have to name the missing one in English.
🎯 Objectives:
- Develop memory skills
- Reinforce vocabulary
- Works with the whole class simultaneously
You can make it harder by removing multiple images or by asking students to write the missing words instead of just saying them.
6. 💻 Boom Cards – Vocabulary
Best for: fast finishers, homework, or independent work
In this digital deck, students see a Saint Patrick’s Day image and have to circle the correct word from a list. Leprechaun? Shamrock? Pot of gold? They choose.
✅ Self-paced ✅ Automatic correction ✅ No printing needed
This is what I hand to fast finishers so they stay on task while I help other students. It also works perfectly as a formative evaluation or homework — students get instant feedback without waiting for you to grade anything.
7. 📖 Boom Cards – Reading Activity
Best for: reading comprehension — A1–A2 level
The topic: “What is a leprechaun?” Students read a short, level-appropriate text and then answer questions in two formats:
- True or False statements
- Drag and drop questions
It’s engaging, it’s differentiated, and it introduces cultural content in a structured way. Students are always curious about the leprechaun legend — this turns that curiosity into a reading exercise.
Like all Boom Cards, it’s self-correcting and can be assigned digitally.
🎁 Grab Your Free Saint Patrick’s Day Activities
Before you go — I made two free resources you can use this week:
- A Saint Patrick’s Day crossword (key vocabulary)
- A Saint Patrick’s Day wordsearch (same vocabulary set)
Both are ready to print and use with A1–A2 learners.
👉 Download the free activities
— It’s free — just click and download
🍀 Want all 7 activities in one go?
The full Saint Patrick’s Day bundle (A1–A2) includes everything covered in this post: flashcards, dominoes, I Have Who Has, Spot & Bark, Kim’s Game + 2 Boom Card decks.