Making a leprechaun trap is a great St Patrick’s Day classroom activity to motivate students in the elementary classroom. Not only is it fun and engaging, you can use it as a teaching tool as well. As a springboard for writing activities, making a leprechaun trap stimulates the imagination and gets the creative juices flowing. For younger children it brings St Patrick’s Day alive as they eagerly await the results of their hard work. Older children can take on the challenge of designing and building their own leprechaun traps with a little guidance from you.
Set the Stage
Set the stage by providing background information about the history of St Patrick’s Day emphasizing the Irish belief in leprechauns. Share stories and legends involving leprechauns and their magical powers. Many children are not familiar with Irish legends and folklore and are thrilled by the magical aspects of leprechauns. Take advantage of their natural curiosity about St Patrick’s Day to motivate learning and to engage reluctant learners.
Introduce the Leprechaun Trap
Whether you choose to build the leprechaun trap yourself and present it to the class as a St Patrick’s Day classroom activity or if you prefer to challenge your students to build their own traps, this classroom activity requires an introduction. Show enthusiasm and excitement for the topic and pretend to believe you will actually catch a leprechaun. Even though you may think your students are too wise to believe in these magical creatures, they are eager to accept new beliefs and are grateful for the opportunity to believe in magic. Act as though building a leprechaun trap is an important task and your students are likely to see it that way too.
Gather Your Supplies
If students will be making leprechaun traps as a classroom activity, send home a note a week or two in advance asking parents to save and send recycled materials you can use for building leprechaun traps. The list should include small boxes, berry boxes, cardboard tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, wrapping paper), string, netting material, green yarn or bits of green fabric, costume jewelry or trinkets (for bait), twigs or any miscellaneous craft supplies.
Design the Leprechaun Trap
Designing the leprechaun trap and brainstorming ideas is a great classroom activity for getting kids involved in the project. Offer ideas on how to set a trap. Propping a box or can with a stick and tying the bait to the stick with a string will create a simple trap. When the leprechaun tries to take the bait, the can or box will fall and trap him inside. Other options include tubes or nets. Demonstrate making a tube for an entrance to the trap that narrows as it gets closer. Once the he is inside, he is unable to crawl back out the tube. Brainstorm ways to set up a net trap so that it will fall and catch the leprechaun once he tries to steal the bait. Encourage students to think of other ways to build traps.
Display the Materials
Place materials for making leprechaun traps on a table or display in a prominent area of your classroom. Be sure to include paper, paints, markers and other art supplies for decorating the trap. Patterns for shamrocks, rainbows and pots of gold are a good addition.
Decide on Bait
Offer a variety of items that are suitable as bait. Gold coins, small trinkets and colored cereal like Lucky Charms are good choices. Let children decide on what they will use as bait.
Make the Leprechaun Trap
Provide ample time for children to assemble their leprechaun traps. This may take some time, but it is a good opportunity to encourage cooperative learning and to work on social skills. Decorating the trap should be the focus of this activity. Setting the trap will be a separate activity.
Setting the Leprechaun Trap
On the day before St Patrick’s Day, allow students to display and set their traps. This is a good time to discuss how clever leprechauns are and how rare it is to catch one. Tell children that even if they do not catch a leprechaun they may find clues or signs that he has visited. Tell a story about the time a leprechaun escaped from your own trap. Include details about a trail of fairy dust left behind or how you discovered bits of his clothing in your trap. Make it lively as you are setting the stage for their own discoveries when they return to school.
Visiting Leprechauns
Once children have left for the day it is time to leave clues that leprechauns have visited. Carefully trigger the traps so that all traps appear to have been visited. Sprinkle a trail of green glitter around traps to represent fairy dust. Tear tiny bits of green fabric and attach them to the edges of traps to look like a leprechaun caught his clothing on the trap while escaping. Make footprints by coating a tiny doll shoe in paint and stamping a trail on the windowsill or around traps. Add a few tiny gold coins that spilled from his pouch. Make a miniature hat from green fabric and leave it behind as though the leprechaun lost his hat in his attempts to escape.
Making leprechaun traps as a St Patrick’s Day classroom activity actively involves children in the learning process. For older children, the process of making the trap sharpens reasoning skills and encourages divergent thinking. Younger children can provide assistance as you build the trap by adding decorations or selecting the bait. Young children will be eager to check the trap to see if you have caught a leprechaun and can examine the area for clues that a leprechaun has visited.
For more St Patrick’s Day Classroom activities visit these articles.
St Partick’s Day Writing Prompts, Writing Activities and Story Starters for Elementary Students
St Patrick’s Day Writing Prompts for Middle School Students
