Around the World: Dio Dhuit from Ireland!

 By this point, my son knows if he finds his passport inside his school bag that we're about to take off to our next destination. On his own, he goes to his dress-up basket and retrieves his pilot's hat. He knows our "Airplane Song" by heart! Familiar routines and repetition of activities create feelings of comfort and competence in young children. When I'm teaching, I know there's no need to reinvent the wheel each day. On the contrary, the more opportunities a young learner has to move through a familiar task, the more confidence he/she gains. Our plane landed in Ireland today. When we arrived, we were met with the beautiful sounds of Celtic music. My little travel companion felt like dancing, so we had an impromptu dance party!

My son loves imitating the sounds of different aircraft
in this fabulous board book, Planes Go by Steve Light. Check it out
along with the author's other transportation themed
books from your local library!

We learned how to greet people in Gaelic by saying "dio dhuit!" We looked at a map of Ireland and identified it on our globe.
Next, we looked at a picture of Ireland's flag and took on the challenge of recreating it in a flag matching activity. I provided a colored-in version of the flag and a blank template along with strips of construction paper cut in green and orange. I asked my son if he could match the flag on top to the flag on the bottom by putting it together like a puzzle. He correctly placed the green and orange on the left and right sides respectively; I was impressed! Next, he used his glue stick to permanently affix the strips of paper in their correct location.

 We talked about some other popular Irish symbols. I set out materials for this simple coffee filter shamrock.
You will need:

• white coffee filters, one per shamrock
• green washable markers
• black permanent marker
• scissors
• water in a spray bottle

To prepare your shamrock, trace or copy the shape onto a coffee filter with black permanent marker. You do want a permanent marker here in order to maintain the border once the coffee filter gets wet. With younger children, you will want to prepare this step in advance. Older ones can trace a stencil made from card-stock or cardboard. Likewise, you will want to cut out the shamrock for younger ones, but older children can do this part independently as well. Using green washable markers in one or more shades, allow your little artist to color the shamrock. You can doodle, dot, dab, or draw! (You might want to inform little artists in advance that their artwork will be altered by water later so they do not grow attached to a particular drawing only to have it ruined!) My little one loved observing how the color bled through the thin coffee filter. Note that the more color(s) added, the more colorful the final result will be, but there is no need to color in every white space as the water will work its magic. When they feel done with their coloring, help your little artist to place the shamrock on a tray (I used a cookie sheet) with a couple of layers of paper towel underneath. Alternatively, you can use a paper plate. Using a spray bottle, your child can spray water onto the coffee filter and watch the colors run across the shamrock! Adding too much water will actually wash away all your color, so you might want to support your little ones to spray only until the surface is saturated and not beyond that point. If you do not have a spray bottle, you can paint on water or even dip in a cup or shallow dish of water. Once dry, you can hang up your beautiful shamrock! It would look lovely in a window or on a wall.

I make a point to hang our work throughout the house for all to admire. My son feels very proud to see his creations on display and this helps foster conversations about what we are learning throughout the day.

We had a great time in Ireland! Join us next time for a peek into our visit to France. We will explore building and engineering as we visit the Eiffel tower, practice more flag matching and create a beautiful tablecloth through process art activities in the style of French artist, Claude Monet!
Until then, happy travels and happy playing!