• 13 games
  • Checked October 2026

Fun St. Patrick's Day PE Games

Leprechaun tag, gold behind three guarded lines and a cloverleaf relay, for a gym class aged 6 to 11.

Fun St. Patrick's Day PE Games

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  1. Catch the Leprechaun: Whoever Tags One Becomes One1. Tag with three players to catch and everyone else chasing. Each of the three is a leprechaun in a green pinnie, carrying a yellow beanbag: the gold.2. Everyone else chases. Touch a leprechaun on the arm or the back and you take over: the leprechaun hands you the pinnie and the gold.3. The old leprechaun counts to three aloud before anyone may tag the new one.4. Nobody tags back the player they just took the gold from. At the end, ask who was a leprechaun at least once.Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 10 to 36. You need: three green pinnies and three yellow beanbags.
  2. Rope Rainbow Carry: The Gold Rides on Three Ropes1. A team carry with no hands on the ball. Six players hold three jump ropes between them, a player at each end, pulled tight side by side. A yellow ball rests on the ropes: the gold.2. The team walks the gold around a far cone and back to its bucket, the pot.3. If the ball falls, everyone stops, one player sets it back on the ropes, and the team goes on from that place.4. At the pot, tip the ropes so that the ball rolls in. Then try the trip with two ropes.Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 6 to 36. You need: three jump ropes, a yellow ball, a cone and a bucket for every six players.
  3. Six Colors to the Pot: A Toss From Every Spot on the Arc1. A tossing game for partners. Lay six floor spots in an arc three steps from a bucket, the pot, in the order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.2. One partner tosses a yellow beanbag underhand from the red spot. A coin in the pot moves the tosser on to orange. After a miss, toss again from the same spot.3. The other partner fetches each coin and hands it back.4. Swap jobs when the tosser has scored from all six. Then move every spot one step back.Ages: 6 to 9. Players: 2 to 30. You need: six floor spots in the rainbow colors, a bucket and a yellow beanbag for each pair.

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All 13 games

St. Patrick's Day gym games 7

  • Catch the Leprechaun: Whoever Tags One Becomes One 1. Tag with three players to catch and everyone else chasing. Each of the three is a leprechaun in a green pinnie, carrying a yellow beanbag: the gold. 2. Everyone else chases. Touch a leprechaun on the arm or the back and you take over: the leprechaun hands you the pinnie and the gold. 3. The old leprechaun counts to three aloud before anyone may tag the new one. 4. Nobody tags back the player they just took the gold from. At the end, ask who was a leprechaun at least once. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 10 to 36. You need: three green pinnies and three yellow beanbags.
  • Cloverleaf Relay: Loop All Three Hoops 1. A relay on a looping course. Each team has a start cone and three hoops laid out ahead of it like the three leaves of a shamrock: one to the left, one to the right and one straight ahead. 2. The runner goes around the left hoop and back past the cone, around the right hoop and back past the cone, then around the far hoop and home. 3. A runner who cuts inside a hoop goes back around it. 4. Tag the next runner by hand. For the second race, each team sets its hoops a step farther out. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 8 to 32. You need: a cone and three hoops for each team.
  • Rainbow Tag: The Color That Tags You Sends You to Its Cone 1. Tag with three taggers in three colors. One wears red, one yellow and one blue, and a cone of each color stands in a different corner. 2. A tagger touches a runner on the arm or the back. The tagged runner jogs to the cone of that tagger's color, goes around it and comes back in. 3. A runner who has been around all three cones calls "rainbow" and swaps places with the tagger who made the last tag. 4. A tagger may not tag the same runner twice in a row. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: pinnies and cones in red, yellow and blue.
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St. Patrick's Day gym games, continued

  • Rope Rainbow Carry: The Gold Rides on Three Ropes 1. A team carry with no hands on the ball. Six players hold three jump ropes between them, a player at each end, pulled tight side by side. A yellow ball rests on the ropes: the gold. 2. The team walks the gold around a far cone and back to its bucket, the pot. 3. If the ball falls, everyone stops, one player sets it back on the ropes, and the team goes on from that place. 4. At the pot, tip the ropes so that the ball rolls in. Then try the trip with two ropes. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 6 to 36. You need: three jump ropes, a yellow ball, a cone and a bucket for every six players.
  • Six Colors to the Pot: A Toss From Every Spot on the Arc 1. A tossing game for partners. Lay six floor spots in an arc three steps from a bucket, the pot, in the order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. 2. One partner tosses a yellow beanbag underhand from the red spot. A coin in the pot moves the tosser on to orange. After a miss, toss again from the same spot. 3. The other partner fetches each coin and hands it back. 4. Swap jobs when the tosser has scored from all six. Then move every spot one step back. Ages: 6 to 9. Players: 2 to 30. You need: six floor spots in the rainbow colors, a bucket and a yellow beanbag for each pair.
  • Three Lines of Leprechauns Before the Gold 1. A crossing game with three walls. Mark three lines across the gym and put two leprechauns on each. A leprechaun may move only sideways along its own line. 2. A crate of yellow beanbags, the pot of gold, stands behind the last line. Runners start at the other end and try to get past all three lines. 3. A runner tagged on the arm or the back jogs back along the side wall and starts again. 4. A runner who gets through takes one coin, walks home along the side wall and drops it in the class hoop. Change the leprechauns when the hoop holds twenty. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 14 to 36. You need: tape or cones for three lines, a crate, twenty or more yellow beanbags and a hoop.
  • Who Has the Gold? Every Runner Crosses With Closed Fists 1. A crossing game with a secret. One team huddles on an end line, and one of its runners hides a plastic gold coin in a fist. 2. All the runners cross the gym with both fists closed. The other team, the catchers, tags as many as it can with a touch on the arm or the back. 3. A tagged runner stops and opens both hands. If the gold is found, the catchers score. If the carrier reaches the far line, the runners score. 4. Swap jobs after every crossing, and play to five. Ages: 8 to 11. Players: 12 to 36. You need: one plastic gold coin or a yellow counter, and pinnies for one team.

Small space or classroom 6

  • A Coin on Each Shoe: Walk the Line and Keep Your Gold 1. A balancing walk. Tape a line on the floor for every four players. Each walker lays a yellow beanbag on top of each shoe. 2. Walk the line from end to end with slow, flat steps, so that neither coin slides off. 3. A coin that falls is put back on at that spot, and the walker goes on. 4. Count the coins dropped on the way there and back. Then try it sideways, or stepping over a rope laid across the line. Ages: 6 to 9. Players: 1 to 30. You need: tape and two yellow beanbags for every four players.
  • Lucky Seven: Slide Two Beanbags to Add Up to Seven 1. A sliding target game with arithmetic. For every four players, tape a row of six squares on the floor and number them 1 to 6. 2. From a line three steps back, slide two beanbags along the floor, one after the other. 3. Add the numbers of the squares they stop in. Exactly seven scores a point, and a beanbag on a line counts as the lower number. 4. Take turns, and play to five points. Then choose a new target total together. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. You need: tape and two beanbags for every four players.
  • Roll the Gold Under the Rainbow: A Hoop for an Arch 1. A rolling game for threes. One player holds a hoop upright on the floor: the rainbow. The other two kneel three steps away on either side of it with one yellow ball, the gold. 2. Roll the gold through the rainbow to your partner without touching the hoop. A clean roll scores one for all three of you. 3. Change jobs after five rolls, so that each of you holds the rainbow once. 4. The second time around, both rollers kneel one step farther away. Keep one count of clean rolls for the three of you. Ages: 6 to 9. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a hoop and a small yellow ball for every three players.
  • Shamrock Hop: Three Hoops and a Stem 1. A jumping pattern for threes. Lay three hoops touching each other in a clover, with a jump rope pointing away from them as the stem. 2. One player stands at the end of the stem. A second calls the leaves in any order, such as "left, top, right". 3. The jumper walks the stem heel to toe, then jumps into each leaf in the order called, two feet together, and jumps out. 4. The third player checks the order. Then everyone moves on one job, and the caller may name four or five jumps. Ages: 6 to 9. Players: 3 to 30. You need: three hoops and a jump rope for every three players.
  • Spin the Gold: Jump Until the Coin Lies Flat 1. A jumping count for partners, timed by a spinning coin. Each pair has one plastic gold coin and a smooth patch of floor or a desk top. 2. One partner spins the coin on its edge. While it spins, the other jumps on the spot with feet together, counting aloud. 3. The jumping stops when the coin lies flat, and that count is the score. 4. Swap jobs after every spin. Then change the jump: hops on one foot, or side to side over a line. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a plastic gold coin for each pair.
  • Three Leaves, Three Beanbags: Everyone Tosses at Once 1. A tossing rhythm for threes. Three players stand in a triangle two steps apart, each holding a beanbag. 2. On a count of three, all toss underhand to the player on their right and catch the beanbag coming from the left. 3. Count the rounds in which nothing drops. At five, add a clap between the toss and the catch. 4. At ten, toss to the left. A fourth player may then join to make a four-leaf clover, which is rare and said to bring luck. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a beanbag for each player.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a gym class in March, and for a classroom or a stage when the gym is taken. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. Tags are a touch on the arm or the back, nothing is thrown at a player, nobody is put out of a game for good and no game uses food; those are our own rules for play. Checked on 12 October 2026 at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the name): Rainbow, for the order of the colors; Shamrock, for its three leaves; Four-leaf clover, for its rarity and the luck it is said to bring; Educational stage, for the ages of each United States grade. Licence: own work

How it works

These St. Patrick's Day PE games turn yellow beanbags into gold and green pinnies into leprechauns. A tagged player is back in at once, nothing is eaten, and nobody is pinched for not wearing green.

Read the full guide

Seven for the gym

The page opens on the St. Patrick's Day gym games, written for grades 1 to 5. Two are tag, two are crossings, and the rest are a relay, a toss and a team carry. Each game prints its own ages.

When the gym is taken

The menu under the button changes to Small space or classroom: six St. Patrick's Day games for school that need no room to run, played with hoops, tape, beanbags and plastic coins beside the desks or on a stage.

Questions and answers

What are fun St. Patrick's Day PE games for a big class?

Catch the Leprechaun has the whole class chasing three players, and Three Lines of Leprechauns Before the Gold sends everyone across the gym again and again. Nobody is put out of either.

Which St. Patrick's Day games for PE need almost no equipment?

Who Has the Gold? needs one plastic coin and pinnies for one team, and Spin the Gold needs one plastic coin for each pair. Three Leaves, Three Beanbags needs a beanbag for each player.

Which games suit first and second grade?

Six Colors to the Pot, Shamrock Hop and Roll the Gold Under the Rainbow are written for ages 6 to 9, and Catch the Leprechaun starts at age 6. The two crossings and Rainbow Tag start at age 8.

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