Saint Patrick’s Day is approaching, and that means a leprechaun may visit your home. Irish legend says that if a human catches a leprechaun, the leprechaun has the power to grant that human three wishes in exchange, the human has to let the leprechaun go.
If you have been thinking about catching a leprechaun, you will need to build a leprechaun trap.
Leprechaun traps are fun and easy to make. We designed the leprechaun traps below to catch even the cleverest leprechaun.
Leprechaun Trap 1
Try this DIY Leprechaun trap to catch a leprechaun for Saint Patrick’s Day
Materials:
- Shoe box
- Green paint
- Construction Paper
- Crayons and markers
- Scissors or Exacto knife
- Glue to tape
- Small cup or a cupcake wrapper for the pot
- Gold tissue paper, pennies, or gold coins (used to trick the leprechaun)
- two pipe cleaners
- Optional Glitter
Leprechaun Trap Instructions
Step 1
The first thing you are going to do it paint your shoebox green. Leprechauns love green. Let the box dry completely.
Step 2
While your shoebox is drying. Draw a rainbow on a piece of construction paper. You can add glitter to your picture if you’d like.
Step 3
Cut out your rainbow, leaving extra space at the bottom. Glue the bottom of your rainbow to the back of your shoebox.
Step 4
Using a scissor or Exacto knife (remember, never use a knife without an adult present), create a trap door on the top of your shoebox. Cut a square shape leaving one side uncut,
Step 5
Cut one pipe cleaner in half. Hold the two halves up to the side of your box. The pipe cleaners should come up to the top of the box. If they are longer than that, cut the bottoms off.
Take the other pipe cleaner and cut it into four equal parts. Lay the two larger pipe cleaner pieces next to each other. Lay the four smaller pieces across the two larger pieces and wrap each end around the larger pieces. This will form a ladder for your leprechaun.
Glue the ladder to the side of the leprechaun trap.
Step 6
Take a piece of gold tissue paper and rip it up into small pieces, next, crumble it up into little balls. This will fool the leprechaun into thinking it the tissue paper is gold. Place them in the small cup for the cupcake wrapper or anything you have at home. We used a small play-doh jar and wrapped it in gold tissue paper.
This will be your pot of gold. Place the pot of gold on your trap door.
If you don’t have gold tissue paper you can use play money, pennies, or chocolate gold coins.
Place a trail of “gold” from the latter to the trap door to lead the leprechaun to the trap.
If done correctly the leprechaun, should walk up the ladder, see your rainbow and follow the trail of gold to the trap door. Once the leprechaun stands on the trap door it will fall through and be stuck inside the shoebox.
Good luck!
Leprechaun Trap # 2
Here is a second leprechaun trap idea. Try both, see which one catches the leprechaun!
Materials
- Orange piece of construction paper
- Popicle stick, candy stick or lollipop stick
- Tape
- Caryons
- Cupcake wrapper, small cup or container (to be your pot of gold)
- “Gold”. you can use pennies, gold candy coins, play money, gold tissue paper crumpled into balls
- Shoebox lid
- Green construction paper or paint to cover the shoebox lid
Leprechaun Trap Instructions
Step 1
The first thing you are going to do is either cover your shoebox lid with green construction paper or paint it green.
Step 2
Once your shoebox lid is dry or covered in green paper, you are going to decorate it.
Be sure to use lots of colors, stickers, glitter, anything that will attract a leprechan
Step 3
Place your orange contruction paper on the counter or table, wherever you are going to set up your trap.
Step 4
Place your Pot of gold on the orange construction paper.
Step 5
Use a popsicle stick, candy stick to hold up the shoebox lid over the pot of gold.
Step 6
Leave “gold” either pennies, chocolate gold coins or gold tissue paper in a trail leading to the pot of gold.
Your leprechaun will follow the trail of gold striaght to the pot of gold under the trap. Once he touches the pot of gold, the popiscle stick/lollipop stick will fall trapping your leprechan.
If you enjoyed learning how to make a leprechaun trap, check out some of our other Saint Patrick’s Day articles. We have exciting information on leprechauns, Saint Patrick’s Day, Rainbows, and more. at kidsplayandcreate.com
