Gather your little lads and lasses for some active Irish-inspired games. Whether at home or in the classroom, your kids' eyes will be smilin'.

Leprechauns everywhere want to play on St. Patrick's Day. These five fun activities will add some excitement, imagination,and learning to your children's holiday.

Rainbow Hide-n-Seek

Number of Players: 2 or more

Materials:

• Paper shamrocks in the colors of the rainbow--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. (Prepare at least one shamrock of each color per player)
• Chocolate coins

How to Play: Scatter and hide the shamrocks throughout the classroom or the house. Shout out, "Erin Go Braugh!" to begin the game. The kids (leprechauns) try to find one shamrock in each color of the rainbow. If they find a duplicate color, they must leave it for another leprechaun to find. Once they have found an entire rainbow of six shamrocks, they receive their gold . . . a gold chocolate coin, that is! The first child to assemble an entire rainbow may hide the shamrocks for a new game.

Pot 'O Gold Treasure Hunt

Number of Players: 2 or more

Materials: One completed pot o' gold craft

How to Play: One child (the leprechaun) hides the pot of gold while the other kids close their eyes. Once it is hidden, the leprechaun shouts out, "Erin Go Braugh!" and the treasure hunt begins. All of the kids try to find the pot of gold, following the leprechaun's clues. The first to find it yells, "Eureka!" and becomes the leprechaun for the next round of play.

Blarney, Blarney, Blarney . . . . Stone!

Number of Players: 5 or more

Materials: None

How to Play: This is simply an Irish "Duck, duck, goose!" Seat the children in a circle on the floor. One child (the leprechaun) taps the heads of the other children saying, "Blarney, blarney, blarney . . . stone!" On the word "stone", the leprechaun blows a kiss in the air and runs, trying not to get tagged by the "stone" before reaching the open spot in the circle.

Leprechaun Switch-a-Roo

Number of Players: 15 or more

Materials: Paper plates labeled with words from the famous Irish saying, "Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter / Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after." There should be a minimum of two plates for each of these magic words--

• Leprechauns
• Castles
• Good luck
• Laughter
• Lullabies
• Dreams
• Love

How to Play: Arrange the paper plates on the floor in a large circle. One child (the leprechaun) stands in the middle of the circle. The other kids walk around the outside of the paper plate circle reciting the Irish saying. At the end of the poem, each child stands on top of the nearest plate. The leprechaun calls out a magic word, such as "Laughter!" Each child standing on a "laughter" plate must change places with another child on a "laughter" plate. Meanwhile, the leprechaun tries to steal a place, as well. Whoever is left standing without a plate becomes the leprechaun and begins the next round of play.

Leprechaun, Leprechaun Where's Your Gold?

Number of Players: 5 or more

Materials: One coin

How to Play: Seat the children in a circle, with one child (the leprechaun) in the center. The leprechaun closes his eyes as the other children pass the gold coin around the circle behind their backs, chanting "Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where's your gold?" The child in the center of the circle then opens his eyes and attempts to guess who has the gold. Some trickery is involved as the children try to fool the leprechaun, who has three tries to figure it out.

Enjoy an Irish-inspired game with your kids this St. Patrick's Day.

Source for Irish saying: TheHolidaySpot website