DIY Shamrock Addition Counting Kids Activity

Make math fun this St. Patrick’s Day with a DIY Shamrock Addition Counting Activity—a hands-on way for kids to practice counting, addition, and number formation using shamrocks and gold coin counters!

St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, and we’re bringing the luck of the Irish to math time! Today, we’re continuing our festive-themed learning with a hands-on DIY Shamrock Addition Counting Kids Activity that makes math fun, tactile, and engaging for little learners. Abstract math concepts can feel tricky for young kids, but when they can see, touch, and move their counters, learning becomes far more accessible.

This simple setup invites kids to count shamrock cutouts, add glittery gold coins, trace sandpaper numbers, and even shape numbers with pipe cleaners! It’s a playful, multi-sensory way to strengthen early math skills—with a little extra St. Patrick’s Day magic!

Materials

We are using shamrock cutouts (these glittered ones) and lucky Leprechaun gold coins as counters. 

TIP: for a DIY, cut out shamrock shapes yourself from green cardstock (two smaller identicals for addends and one larger for a sun), and use any green counters you have handy: pom poms, buttons, beads, marbles, etc.

You may download the Addition worksheet here. 

Once the child calculates the sun, offer to make that number from pipe cleaners and also offer to trace it using Montessori Sandpaper numbers. 

As a variation, offer to practice counting and adding styrofoam balls (we are using recycled tomato cardboard containers to hold the balls). I placed each addend into a shallow smaller bowl and the “sum” bowl I chose a little bigger to emphasize that the bigger bowl ~ the sum~ will combine the two smaller ones. (For a detailed lesson on Addition, see links below).

 
Tonging is a wonderful way to practice and strengthen fine motor control.

Also, offer your child to “trace” the sum sandpaper number with marbles, as well as trace the number in the sand tray.  (I lined the tray with green cardstock in the spirit of St. Patrick’s. See below for instructions on how to make a Montessori Sandpaper Tracing tray.)

If you would like to make sandpaper numbers, see here a video-tutorial Sandpaper Numbers, and see here how we made sandpaper letters “DIY Sandpaper Letter “S.”
Finally, ask your child to determine whether the sum number is an odd or even number. For a detailed lesson on Odd and Even, see here a post “Fall-Inspired Odd and Even (Numbers & Counters)” which has links to other Odd/Even lessons. 

Take it up a notch by adding three addends (instead of two in a regular equation) since a shamrock has three leaves! This simple math addition DIY is super easy to set up: all you need is a paper puncher and pipe cleaners to make numbers to reinforce number recognition and proper tracing. Buy a similar shamrock here (same size as we are using ~ 1″) or buy a smaller 5/8″ clover puncher here.

 See here a video of Adrian making Montessori Sensorial Tracing Tray using a polenta filler.

For more on St. Patrick’s Day-inspired math activities, see here: Shamrock DIY Recycled Popsicle Puzzle Skip Counting by 10s. Also, see our entire unit study here: St. Patrick’s Day Kids Activities.

For more addition math lessons, see below:

 See here a video post “Addition Strip Board.”

For more on addition, see a post here, “Montessori Math Simple Addition using Marble-Counters,” which also has an intro. What is Montessori Math? Also, see here an Extension to Strip Board: “Addition Strip Board Making 10’s.

For more on math, see here a post video “Beginning Subtraction.”

See links to previous math lessons here.

Have you tried making DIY Shamrock Addition Counting Kids Activity? Leave a comment if you did!

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