Can you believe March is here already? Well, you know what that means…all things related to St. Patrick’s Day and Easter is creeping up on us. My kids love St. Patrick’s Day due to the leprechaun. They can’t wait to see what mischief he will bring and are hopeful to one day catch him. This magic of imagination is all thanks to wonderful teachers who keep the fun alive while they are in the classroom. I am even excited to hear their stories when they return home of how the leprechaun made a mess in their classroom. Even if your school does not encourage the leprechaun mischief, you can still keep the magic alive by creating your very own leprechaun trap at home.
Why I keep the magic of imagination alive.
I am a true believer of keeping my kids’ imagination going as long as possible. There is an innocence there that will soon be lost as they grow in age. Yes, I encourage all types of imagination when it comes to the holidays: Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, and even the St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun. I don’t see this as a means of ‘lying’ to my children. It is only to keep the magic of imagination alive in their sweet little minds and hearts. Being able to believe in something so ‘magical’ is good for the soul in my opinion when you look at all that this world entails now. Ugh….why can’t things be sunshine and rainbows, especially when it comes to our children?!
One day my kids will not have that ‘magic’ any more and will begin to see things through ‘grownup’ eyes. For now, I will let them be little.
St. Patrick’s Day and the mischievous Leprechaun.
As with the tricky little Elf on the Shelf, the St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun loves to make a mess of things. The one thing different though is you will never see him. He is just that ‘tricky’. The leprechaun is all about his gold coins. My kids wake up every morning in the month of March (up until St. Patrick’s Day), in hopes of seeing or one day catching that leprechaun. My oldest could not wait to make a trap that would DEFINITELY catch him. Of course, we as parents know there must be a loop hole in this plan for the leprechaun to escape 😉
If you have older children, you can get them involved in designing the leprechaun trap. Be prepared for it to be pretty intricate! We decided to come up with a very simple trap that was quick and easy. I also found a Leprechaun Trap Kit at Target for only $3 that I will be sharing below as well! Now, let’s keep that imagination going.
Simple Leprechaun Trap.
For this trap, you will really only need items that you already have in your home.
Items Needed
Milk Carton
Plastic Straw
Gold Chocolate Coins
Paint & Glitter
Creating the trap.
This leprechaun trap is super easy to create. All you need to do is cut a rectangle piece out of one of the sides of the milk carton. Make sure to leave enough space at the bottom of the milk carton for the straw to fit. Once you have this piece cut, you can decorate your trap with paint, glitter or even stickers! Lastly, take the plastic straw and cut it to where you will have the perfect length to prop the milk carton up. That’s a wrap, well trap!
To set the trap, prop the milk carton up on the straw on the end where the rectangle piece was cut out. This will serve as the space that will trap your leprechaun. For bait, place the gold chocolate coins on the tabletop or counter directly under the cut out portion of the carton.
The loophole.
The loophole for this trap is the cap of the milk carton. The tricky little leprechaun is able to use his magic to untwist the cap to escape. Maybe next year they will be able to catch that St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun!
Leprechaun Trap Kit from Target.
As I mentioned above, I found a ready-to-go Leprechaun Trap Kit from Target for only $3! This kit is super simple and literally takes a few minutes to assemble! The kit comes with a green box with lid, stickers, a wooden stick for propping up box, rainbow printed paper, and gold coins that will need to be punched out.
Super cute and easy kit for those who don’t have a lot of time! I found this kit at the front of the store in the ‘holiday/bargain’ section.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
So fun! I love your mindset to keeping this magical for as long as possible. I love that my kiddos are so excited for Santa the Easter bunny and now I’ll introduce the leprechaun! What a fun and cute trap. Thanks for the idea!
Your so welcome! It is so exciting when the kids begin to get excited about Santa and the Easter Bunny!
Fun fact: my birthday is on St Patricks day!! I love Elf on the shelf and I love this idea of Leprechaun even more! How brilliant! It’s so fun to keep kids imagination alive with funny little games (and it’s as fun for the adults too haha). This is a great idea and I’m very happy you shared it with us! Thank you!
No way! This is definitely a fun fact! Haha! It definitely is fun for adults too 😉
I’ve been making Leprechaun traps for years now and they have never been as simple and as smart as this one. We’ve had laundry baskets with too many holes for the Leprechaun to escape through, we’ve had boxes where the dogs knock them over. I am definitely going to try this trap out. Maybe we’ll have better luck!
Haha! So much fun! I love the idea of the laundry baskets!
What an adorable idea! I love this. Can’t wait for my son to be old enough for these crafty and fun little traditions.
It is so much fun when you can celebrate these little traditions with your kids!
When my children were small, the leprechaun always visited out house. We never thought to try to catch him! This is such a cute idea–I’d love to try it with the grandkids in a few years.
So much fun! Definitely need to try this with the grandkids in a few years 🙂
This is such a fun idea. My kids would love it!
Yes! My kids had so much fun! They are already talking about trying again next year haha!
This is absolutely adorable! I’ll have to share this with my sister, who has kiddos that would love this!
Thank you so much! We had so much fun with it!
Super fun! I bet a lot of kids will love this!
Yes! I know my kids had so much fun with trying to catch the leprechaun this year 😉
Such a fun thing to do! I think my daughter will have a great time building this Leprechaun trap.
I think so too! My kids had so much fun! They are talking about trying again for the leprechaun next year!