You’re probably here because your child has been assigned a school project to build a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick’s Day.
This is now a common assignment in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and even second grade. Ages that are young enough to still believe in leprechauns!
If you’re not sure how to trap a leprechaun, I’m here to give you tons of ideas (and examples with pictures).
We’re also going to dive into the history of leprechauns and how this whole idea came to be!
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The Leprechaun Trap Story
Folklore of leprechauns goes back to the 8th century, but they became popular mythical creatures in the 19th century.
An imagining of the solitary nature spirits from ancient Irish mythology, leprechauns are often depicted as short old men with bushy red beards, top hats, and all-green outfits.
They are skilled shoe cobblers (because they wear out their shoes so often from excessive dancing).
Infamously, they also like to hoard large sums of gold and come out at night to cause trouble for humans.
This led to the desire to trap leprechauns because they allegedly will tell you where they hide their gold in exchange for freedom!
Many books about leprechauns have been written for little kids in recent years, but How to Catch a Leprechaun is my favorite.
- Hardcover Book
- Wallace, Adam (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 02/02/2016 (Publication Date) – Sourcebooks Wonderland…
There’s also a free short story available online for older readers (around 4th-grade level).
Three Ways to Trap a Leprechaun Book
A newer book was written just a few years ago based on the leprechaun trap craze.
- Hardcover Book
- Lazar, Tara (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 01/07/2020 (Publication Date) – HarperCollins (Publisher)
This book is great for reducing any anxiety your child might have around such an open-ended assignment.
It provides suggestions for materials to use in creating your trap and breaks down the process into simple, manageable steps.
How to Make a Leprechaun Trap
Building a leprechaun trap doesn’t need to be stressful for parents.
It’s an assignment for the kids – so perfection is not expected. This is real life.
I’m the kind of parent who loves crafting opportunities and will happily spend money for new supplies to achieve our vision, but that doesn’t mean YOU have to do that, too!
Feel free to start with a box of any kind, and go through your home to see what you have available to you.
Get creative! As long as there is a lure and a trap door, you’ll have met the goal of the assignment.
How does a leprechaun trap work?
A leprechaun trap works by tempting a leprechaun with something he can’t resist that triggers some sort of mechanism to capture him.
Finding bait is the easy part; you’ve got to get creative when coming up with the means of holding him in your trap.
What do you put in a leprechaun trap?
To trap a leprechaun, there are several things you could put in your trap that he just can’t resist going after:
- Gold
- Worn-out shoes
- A rainbow leading into the trap
- Shamrocks
- Anything green
- Lucky Charms marshmallows (if Lucky the Leprechaun tries to hoard them, we can assume it’s good leprechaun bait)
When do you set a leprechaun trap?
Your trap should be set up the night before St. Patty’s Day because that’s the day of the year when leprechauns are most active!
Unfortunately, your kids won’t be able to stay up late waiting to see one.
Leprechauns only come out at night after all the humans have gone to sleep.
So help your little ones set the trap and tell them to get to bed, otherwise they might miss their opportunity to catch one!
Materials and Supplies
You can use anything to try and build your leprechaun trap, but there are some materials commonly used.
I have seen people use all of these items in various traps:
- Shoebox
- Cereal box
- Amazon cardboard box
- Empty oatmeal container
- LEGOs
- Acrylic paint
- Spray paint
- Markers
- Crayons
- Wrapping paper
- Construction paper
- Empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls
- Craft/popsicle sticks
- Ribbon
- Craft Foam
- Felt
- Pipe cleaners
- Thread or yarn
- Rubber bands
- Paper clips
- Small pot, cauldron, cup, or bowl (for a “pot” of gold)
- Plastic gold coins
- Gold-wrapped chocolate candy
- Glitter
- Confetti
- Foil
- Mirrors
- Four-leaf clovers
- Rabbit’s foot
- Old kids’ shoes
- Lucky Charms marshmallows
These are tools I have used in the past (and recommend you have ready to go while working):
- Scissors
- Tape
- Glue (or hot glue)
- X-acto knife
- Ruler
- Paper trimmer
- Hole punch
- Cricut (cutting machine – not necessary, but it helps a lot!)
How to Draw a Leprechaun Trap
As part of the assignment, an illustrated plan of the trap is often requested to help a child learn the phases of bringing an idea to life.
These drawings don’t have to be super detailed, and you should let your child do most of the work here (since you’ll likely have to help a lot more with building the actual trap).
Have them start with the box you plan on using. Use a side view or a top-down view, depending on how they expect the trap to operate.
Three elements should be present in their sketch:
- How the leprechaun gets up to the trap
- Bait to tempt him
- How he gets trapped inside
Talk them through these things one step at a time to guide them.
DIY Leprechaun Trap Ideas
I’ve made my fair share of leprechaun traps, but I also reached out to others who have made some amazing systems!
Use our designs for inspiration. Show them to your children to see what elements they’d like to incorporate in their traps!
The Best Shoebox Trap
My original shoebox trap is a super-simple concept made to look awesome with the decorations surrounding it.
The bait is a pot of gold. The plan is to capture the leprechaun in the box via a piece of craft foam over a hole with lines cut so he falls through it when approaching the gold!
Get the step-by-step instructions for my shoebox trap.
Awesome LEGO Leprechaun Trap
When I made this LEGO trap, I wanted to try and make it fully functional, so the design time took longer than normal.
Once I had my pieces together, though, the assembly took less than 30 minutes!
There’s a pot of LEGO “gold” inside the box, with dual trap doors to help ensure the leprechaun can’t escape.
If you have a lot of pieces on hand, you can get piece-by-piece instructions to replicate the design.
Check out the video below to watch the build in action!
Clever Leprechaun Trap Using Simple Machines
Incorporating pulleys, levers, and inclines turns a leprechaun trap into a great STEM activity for your children.
This trap from Merriment Design is absolutely genius!
An incline is used in the form of a ladder that leads to the top of the canister.
The rainbow “floor” is a lever that will spin when the leprechaun steps on it, dropping him (and his found gold) into the can!
Leprechaun Hat Trap
This is a big leprechaun trap from The Dragon Mama, but it’s still simple to make and visually stunning.
The leprechaun is meant to be trapped inside of the hat itself!
After he climbs the ladder to the rainbow slide that leads him to the gold, he winds up falling through a hidden hole in the top of the hat.
Quick and Easy Leprechaun Trap
A lot of parents are strapped for time to help with family projects.
Looking for a trap design you can complete in less than an hour in between work, dinner, baths, or bedtime?
This is The Dragon Mama’s easiest trap to date!
Wrap a box in green paper, cut a trap door in the center, and decorate it with stickers and a sign, or just let your little one draw all over it.
Grab a ladder from a toy set or build one out of LEGOs or any other building toys.
Throw some Lucky Charms marshmallows over the trap’s hole with a little trail leading up to it.
You’re done!
Signs to Decorate Your Homemade Trap
If you go the simple route but would still like your leprechaun trap to have some pizzazz, just print out some fun signs to attach to it.
You can get the lucky charms and arrow signs for free, or check out my shop to get any of the others shown above.
Creative Leprechaun Trap Cake
If you’re making a trap just for your family to enjoy at home, why not make it edible?
The website of the original baker of the above cake is no longer active, but I can tell you that a bundt/tube cake pan was used.
After decorating the cake, she placed a couple of thin pretzel sticks across the center hole and carefully rested her gold coins on top of them.
With any luck, as the leprechaun runs across the cake to get to the gold, he’ll get tripped up in the frosting and fall through the pretzel sticks into the center!
For extra fun, separate your cake batter into several bowls and add food coloring to make them rainbow colors before adding them to the cake pan one at a time.
Lucky Charms Leprechaun Trap Craft
You don’t have to look any further than your cereal box to quickly assemble a leprechaun trap.
This time of year, General Mills puts out several types of Lucky Charms cereal, all with a unique trap built in.
They come with instructions that are simple to complete.
Feel free to add extras that match the theme of your particular cereal box!
Good Leprechaun Trap Kits
If you have zero time to get crafty, there’s good news!
Leprechaun traps are now so popular, companies have started putting out ready-to-build kits.
The most affordable (and maybe cutest) one I found is surprisingly the one I liked from Etsy. It’s made entirely from foam, felt, and stickers!
Party City also has a decently-priced trap kit, complete with signs and a pot of gold.
The two below are from Amazon. The first trap is great in its simplicity, while the second one is beautifully gaudy and loud!
Easy Printable Leprechaun Trap
Okay. It’s the day before the project is due, and you don’t even have a container to make into a trap.
Deep breaths. Momma Made That has come to the rescue!
This trap is made entirely of printables.
Just send it to the printer, cut out the pieces, and assemble the trap with a little glue after folding along the dotted lines.
Your little one can still help with the cutting and gluing, so this still counts as a great family project.
What Do Leprechauns Leave in Traps?
I have yet to meet anyone who was able to catch a leprechaun.
However, it seems that if your trap is clever enough, they leave behind a treat for their would-be captors!
We’ve had leprechauns leave us chocolate gold coins as well as gold-wrapped Rolo candies.
But I would imagine he might also leave golden Oreos or any other golden food – or toy!
Cute Note from the Leprechaun
In our house, the leprechaun always leaves the kids a note before escaping to make more mischief!
Fill out the form below to get a free blank design he can write his letter on, or check out my editable templates!
