Leprechaun Trap Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

Building a leprechaun trap is a fun and easy STEM activity for kids in early elementary school. You can do this at home or in the classroom.

What is a leprechaun trap?

The idea is that you build some kind of contraption that includes a box or a basket that could hold a leprechaun, then you add some kind of bait under the trap like gold coins, chocolate, drawings of rainbows, etc.

You leave it out overnight before St. Patrick’s Day, and the next day the trap will be sprung. The leprechaun got away but they may have left treats, or done a little mischief in the room (or both!).

One year in my daughter’s class the leprechaun left washable paint footprints all over!

If you need some inspiration for building your own leprechaun traps, there are so many great ideas online. The key elements, as laid out in this post from The Best Ideas for Kids, include:

Bait
A ladder if needed to climb into the trap
Decorations including shamrocks and rainbows
Something to trap the leprechaun in like a box, bottle or hat

That post has some cute and really easy ideas that would be great for younger kids. If you want something more elaborate, check out the ideas at Happiness is Homemade (I particularly love the Lego leprechaun house, which wouldn’t even have to be a trap).

Artsy Mama has a great upcycled leprechaun trap made from things in the recycling bin.

Lolly Jane has another fun roundup of leprechaun trap crafts. One of my favorites is this top hat trap from The Suburban Soapbox, which is mostly made out of poster board and construction paper, so it’s a pretty low-budget option that is still really cute.

Have you ever made a leprechaun trap? I’d love to hear about the design you made and what happened when the trap was sprung!

Next Plan Idea:

Fun Pot of Gold Crafts for Kids - St Patricks Day Ideas

Whenever you go to the beach with kids, you’re sure to come home with some seashells and more than a little sand. Let’s use some of those treasures to make fun crafts.

This handprint craft is made with a sand-infused salt dough and some little shells from the beach. It’s a cute way to remember how little your kids were on that beach trip. Find the instructions at From Under a Palm Tree.

Here’s another take on sand dough that was used to make little ornaments and sculptures. Get the details from Pink Stripey Socks.

Moms and Crafters used air dry clay and seashells to make these cute necklaces. She used the storebought clay but you can also make your own air dry clay if you’d rather.

Crafts on Sea used a shell to make a whale, but I’m sure you could take this idea and make lots of different creatures. I love the idea of sea creatures made with shells like fish or a jellyfish or an octopus using the same method. They also have a seashell decoration made with salt dough that’s really cute and would be fun for kids to paint. Poke a hole before it dries for hanging if you want.

Or take a bunch of little shells and decorate a frame like these from Rhythms of Play. They used a handprint instead of a picture but you could also put in a picture from the beach trip.

This is probably one for the mamas to make because it uses epoxy, but I also wanted to share these cute and easy shell hair pins from Thrifty Mama Ramblings, which kids are sure to want for their mermaid pretend play.

Or how about some sensory play straight from the beach? Use store bought sand if you don’t have a beach nearby to make this beach sand slime from The Mama Notes. Thrown in some shells and kids will love playing with this one.

What is a leprechaun trap?

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