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We are excited to share our awesome Leprechaun trap ideas for kids with you today! With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, hopefully you are preparing for those pesky Leprechauns and their tricks.
My 3rd grader got an assignment from school this week to build a Leprechaun trap. So immediately I started pinning. There are so many fun and cute ideas out there, but he really wanted something different that no one else would think of. So going off a whim I suddenly had I typed in “DIY Mousetraps” in the search bar. The results were exactly what my 3rd grader was going for, and we found ourselves making 3 traps instead of just one.
One is super simple, so we are calling this our “Beginner Trap”. One takes a few more supplies. We are calling this our “Intermediate Trap”, and one takes a bit more time and a bit of know how. This one is called our “Expert Trap”.
For this trap you don’t need much. Just a few items that you most likely have lying around your house.
The idea of this trap is to use gravity to catch the leprechaun. Take the gold piece (we spray painted pennies) and glue it into the opening of the paper towel tube. Set the tube on the chair with the majority of the tube hanging off.
Place the empty bucket right underneath the tube. My kids were worried about the Leprechaun getting hurt, so they found some pillows to put in the bottom. Tape a string or 2 pipe cleaners hooked together to the chair.
There you have it! A simple fool proof way to catch a leprechaun. He will climb up the pipe cleaners, run through the tube toward the gold, and his own weight will cause the tube to fall off the chair and into the bucket. This trap literally took us less than 5 minutes.
For this trap you will need:
Begin by dumping the Sprite into a pitcher or bottle. Rinse the 2-Liter bottle out. With a knife, or a pair of scissors, cut the bottle near the top wear it starts to get skinny.
Fill the bottom bottle with green paper shreds, and place the gold coins in the center. Then, turn the top part of the bottle upside down and place it into the bottom part of the bottle so the spout is pointing down.
Duck tape these 2 pieces together. We used gold colored duck tape from Walmart to catch the eye of the Leprechaun, but any kind would work fine!
Finally make your ladder. Take 2 pipe cleaners of the same color for the sides of the ladder. Cut different colors about 2 inches in length. Fold each end over the sides. When you are finished, fold the top of the long pieces over the Sprite Bottle to secure the ladder to the trap!
I had to help my 5 year old cut the pipe cleaners and the bottle, but other than that he was able to do everything else himself!
For this trap you will need:
Begin by cutting your metal to the length needed. You can find this length by measuring opening of your bucket. Cut the metal about 1 inch long on both sides. Then using the power drill, drill small holes into each side of the bucket, near the top, so that your metal can slide through.
Next, using the drill create a small hole in both side of the can. Dump whatever contents out and wash the can out well. Slide the metal piece through the side of the bucket, then through the can, and then through the other side of the bucket. Bend the extra length of the metal on the sides of the bucket so it stays in place.
Cover the can with the Gold Duck Tape. Then hot glue the gold pieces in a circle around the can. This is important because you need the can to be the same weight on all sides so it will spin evenly.
Finally create your ladder. We used a power saw to create small grooves in the popsicle sticks so we could piece them all together, however, using hot glue and laying the sticks flat on each other will work too! We used a bit more metal at the top of the ladder to hook it to the side of the bucket, but pipe cleaners would work as well.
My 3rd grader was worried about the Leprechaun falling and getting hurt, so last minute he put some cotton balls in the bottom to soften the fall.
We hope that you like our awesome Leprechaun trap ideas for kids. Wishing you all the best in catching those little guys this year. May luck be ever in your favor!
