St. Patrick’s Day is next weekend! One of my more favorite holidays though I’m not really sure why. (Well now it’s my son’s birthday so I have an even better reason!) This holiday always brings back memories of when I was in elementary school. The week before our teachers would all get together and help us try to “catch a Leprechaun.” The put a great deal of work into this, though I of course didn’t know that back then. I have heard other people mention doing it at home and I think it will be something I do with my son once he’s old enough to understand!

The week before St. Patricks Day we would build a “Leprechaun Trap” to catch one. Of course we got a big story about how mischeivous they would be and could cause all kinds of problems. We had to lure them in with shiny objects that resembled gold and if we managed to catch one we would inherit his pot of gold! So as a class we always sst the trap before leaving for the day making sure to put shiny gold foil (reese cup wrappers work great!) on top.

The next day we would come in and pray we caught one! Instead all we would have is tons of mischievous mess! sometimes it would be Leprechaun foot prints, or tons of gold glitter on our desks, or a big note on the chalk board saying “You can’t catch me!” In the trap, we would often find  candy instead of a Leprechaun! (of course that was just as good!) Ahh the great memories of being a child and believing everything LOL.

If any of you are interested in doing this here is how we built the traps! there are many other ways and great ideas for catching a Leprechaun if you google it!

Leprechaun Hat Trap

Oatmeal can
Green felt
yellow white and black construction paper
scissors
double sided tape
whatever you would like to build a ladder, we always used popsicle sticks

Wrap felt around the oatmeal canister without the top on and secure with tape. Make a cicrle of felt bigger then the can and set it on to (you can glue or tape it you would like) This makes the hat’s brim. Cut a nice sized hole in the plastic top for the oatmeal can and put it back on the can. Then cut another piece of green felt to fit directly on top. This is the trap, if the leprechaun steps on top to get the gold foil ball they will fall in and can’t get out! You can use the construction paper to make designs on the hat, shamrocks, a belt buckle, whatever you can imagine! Use whatever materials you like and build a ladder to lean against the hat. This is so they can climb since they are so tiny! As we were always told Leprechauns hate rules and always disobey! So make sure to make a sign saying NOT to climb ladder, or NOT to take the gold!  Here is a picture of the finished product!  (or something close!)  Hope your kids enjoy if you decide to try it!

Do you have any kid friendly St. Patricks Day ideas to share? I am always open to new suggestions!