Tuesday, March 14, 2017

St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Trap

Jacob came home last week with a homework assignment to make a leprechaun trap.  I have seen many school projects in my day, but this was actually the first I have ever seen of this.  There were no rules... the assignment just said that leprechauns love shiny and glittery things and that we needed to design something to catch them in using scrap materials.  Since it allowed for as much creativity as we wanted, I consulted Pinterest and then Jacob and I headed upstairs to my office/craft room to see what goodies we could find to make our own.

We were able to round up enough stuff at home and we didn’t even have to make a trip to Hobby Lobby!  (Although who would ever complain about a trip to Hobby Lobby?) 



Materials

An old box (we used the Trident White box that we had just gotten from Sams)
Wrapping paper
Tape
Foam Board (I had scraps lying around… cardboard would also work)
Scrapbook paper in rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
Gold glitter scrapbook paper
Circle punch
Scissors
Glue
Cotton balls
A wooden skewer, a stick, or a straw
Ribbon or string


Step One

Wrap the outside of the box in wrapping paper of your choice using tape to secure the paper on the inside.

Step Two

Trim the foam board down to the width of your box but make sure that it is longer than the length of your box.

Step Three

Cut a strip of each scrapbook paper color – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple – and glue down the length of your foam board in rainbow order.  We tried to make each color approximately the same width by overlapping them until the colors were about even.  (When a five year old is doing this, you have to just let it go because it’s not going to be perfect.)

Step Four

Glue cotton balls on top of the rainbow paper at one end of the strip of foam board.

Step Five

Punch a few circles out of the gold glitter scrapbook paper with your circle punch.  If you don’t have a circle punch, cut out circles old school style with scissors.  :o)

Step Six

Tie a piece of ribbon to the end of your stick.  We used a small dab of glue to keep the string from sliding off of the stick.

Step Seven

Assemble – lay the rainbow clad, cotton ball covered foam board flat on the table.  Using your stick, prop one end of the box up and rest the other end on the back end of the cotton balls.  Be sure to have the end of the stick with the ribbon lowest to the table.  Sprinkle the “gold coins” under the box lid and down the rainbow trail to lure the leprechaun.

Step Eight

When the leprechaun comes hopping along, wait until he is under the box, and pull the string.  Voila!  Trapped! 





This project was very simple… it only took about 45 minutes to make, and most importantly it’s easy enough for a five-year old to assemble at school to demonstrate how the trap works.

Keep in mind, leprechauns are tiny little creatures, so you shouldn’t need anything bigger than a shoe box.  ;o) 

Have you ever had to trap a leprechaun?



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28 comments:

  1. WOW! Y'all did a great job on your leprechaun trap!! Way to go, Jacob! Very smart~

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  2. That's adorable! I love it. I think Drew should make one with the kids while I'm gone this weekend. Ha ha!

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  3. So cute! What a fun activity that you and Jacob got to work on together.

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  4. I want to find the pot o' gold!!! LOL. So FUN!! I used to love doing craft projects with the kiddos. This is the neatest idea!!!

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  5. Oh my gosh I LOVE how this turned out!! It's so fun and colorful! I'm sure you will catch a leprechaun with that! :)

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  6. So cute and so simple. I bet the kiddos are having a blast playing with it!

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  7. Awesome trap! We've made so many over the years, and the kids loved this tradition!

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    1. So cool that you know about it! I think I might be the only person who had never heard of this tradition!

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  8. That is a nice looking trap! Well done! :) Hope he catches one. ;)

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  9. Super cute! You know, both of my kids said their teachers didn't even mention St. Patrick's this year- I guess since we're on spring break this week. We'll have to give this a try!

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    1. Oh yeah, that's probably why! I actually don't think we did anything last year for it, but I can't remember for sure!

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  10. TWIN! This is SO cute!!! And reminds me that we aren't twins all the time because crafts aren't my jam.

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  11. Just seeing this photo made me smile. I love a good St. Paddy's Day craft...especially rainbows and a pot of gold. Nice job Momma!

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  12. What a cute fun project for you two to do together and I always call it a double win when we can find everything we need around the house :). I wish our Hobby Lobby was closer by! Happy St. Patrick's Day. Did you catch a leprechaun yet? xoxo ERIN

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  13. Oh my gosh, this is so cute! You come up with the cutest stuff!

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  14. My now 3rd grader had to make a leprechaun trap in Kindergarten and thanks to Pinterest, we pulled it off! We all learned that day, just how uncrafty I am ;)

    Jen
    jpabstfitness.com

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    1. Yes, thank goodness for Pinterest! What did we ever do before then?!

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  15. That's so cute! We had to make one last year for Lily's preschool class and she was SO mad that she didn't catch one. We're crossing that off of our to do list this year!!!

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    1. Haha. So far Jacob hasn't gotten upset about not catching one. Maybe he'll catch one on Friday. ;o)

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  16. This is so much fun! I know Connor would just love this.

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  17. This is the cutest idea! What a fun project and yours turned out great! Beautifully Candid

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  18. Dude this is the cutest thing i've ever seen!
    XO Ellen from Ask Away
    www.askawayblog.com

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  19. I love this! I got Mila the book "How to Catch a Leprechaun" and I fully intended on making a leprechaun trap with her, but Maci got sick and my plans never happened. Next year!

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