Leprechaun Trap! =0) - Murfreesboro,TN

These are cute ideas

http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-c...

We did this one year on our own. The ideas you already have are great. That's pretty much what we did. A box with a stick attached to pull out when the leprechaun enters. We put both chocolate coins and plastic gold coins inside to lure the leprechaun.
Do you have Legos? My son made one also out of Legos with a hinged door.
You could also make the box with the top open. Put a single tissue layer over the top and cover it with moss, grass, etc. The leprechaun will fall in when he walks across the top. Not sure that would be considered a moving part, though.
*Do the leprechauns visit your house? My kids love when the naughtly little leprechauns visit. The have moved furniture, stacked all the green dishes (kids colorful dishes) on the table, found all the green Legos and made a sculpture, left green footprints on the counter, turned the toilet water green as well as the milk. We always joke how we hope they didn't use green toilet water to color the milk!! LOL! One year, they left little green shamrock confetti around the kitchen. I found those little shamrocks in the cupboards, etc. for months!!! :) Anyway, the kids look forward to it every year. Just an idea, if you feel like celebrating St Patty's Day!!
Have fun with your trap!!

I would use a tissue box (square) to make a pot of gold. Cut open the bottom, leaving one side attached (think Jack-in-the box). Fill the tissue box with "gems and gold" and paint the outside to look like a treasure box or kettle. The "lid" will close when the leprechaun jumps in! You could even attach a "rainbow trail" to lead the leprechaun in!

What a creative teacher!

I typed in leprechaun traps and there are several choices on how to build. The one under " eHow" is great. I cannot email it directly to you so hopefully you can search for instructions this way.

My Benjamin Cat loves this and it just might work to trap the Leprechaun. Take a shoebox and cut round holes in it, maybe three on each side and one on each end. For your little ones project though, you must make one of the holes big enough for the Lepgrechaun to climb through and you've got to somehow attach a flap that will drop down and cover the hole before he escapes. (Once he is inside, the shaking of the box should set the flap in motion to close). I hope! Take a pingpong ball, dip it in glue and cover it with GLITTER and place it inside the box. Secure the lid of the box with glue. Ya gotta be quick! He will go crazy trying to get in to get the ball and once he is in... YOU GOT HIM!
PS... Don't forget to cover the box in Green, ya know those little fellas love the color green!

Well lets see here. I would cut a square in the box so the Leprechaun could get in and out. Make a door that swings both ways. That's what I would do~ Decorate the box so it looks like a Leprechaun would want to visit. Hope this gives you some kind of an idea.

Get a shoe box and decorate it. Hinge the lid on with duct tape (all colors these days) or packing tape. Cut a small notch in the other end of the lid and the matching box side. Place a popsicle stick with a long ribbon tied around it in the notches to pull away when the leprechaun goes in. :)

You can decorate it all with whatever color and glitter... How fun!!! :)

I remember that project!!! It was SO cute!!!!!

For my son's project, we bought a mousetrap, and extended the trap part, probably with a wire hanger, and put a net on it. Then we put some gold on the trap, and when the leprechaun went to get the gold -- bam! The leprechaun got stuck in the net.

Oh! We made an AMAZING trap with our son just last year. Wish I could post a picture of it for you. Anyway, we luckily had a shoebox with an attached lid. We set it up like this...we laid the box lid side down and then opened it so it was in the shape of an "L". Then we ran a string along the lid (long ways) and it was attached to the lip of the lid (making sure it is a distance away from the part of the box that is sticking up in the air). Then that same string went diagonally from the lid to the part of the box that stood in the air. You'd have to punch a small hole in the lip of the lid to pass the string through in order to keep it one whole string, this is important. Now, we're Irish, and Irish people know (no offense to the teacher) that leprechaun's are most attracted to a pub and a good pint of Guinness. So we attached a pub front to the lid of the box (sticking straight up so now the trap looks more like a "U") and cut out the doorway so the leprechaun could walk in. Once the leprechaun was inside the pub he was lured in even further by the beautiful inside of a pub with a table already set up for him and a Guinness poured (just in the picture, we didn't send our son to school with alcohol). So the leprechaun would walk in the doorway and keep walking to the back of the box, tripping the wire on the floor, which made the top of the box fall down and close up, therefore locking him inside the box. I have to say, it was ingenious! Really, the coolest trap we've made. We've also made traps in the past trying to lure them in with Rollo candy hoping that they would think it was gold. Those little suckers are smart...and fast. Good luck!

Thank you so much for asking this question! My son has to do the same thing for his second grade class here in Texas and I had no idea where to start. I'm looking forward to reading your responses.

Wow! You got some great responses! Have you asked your child yet what he or she thinks would work? I think one of the best parts about this project is that it allows for creativity, so the more the project can be the child's own idea, the better, even if the project is less sophisticated.

Good luck! I look forward to these kinds of projects as my son gets older!

this might be a little late, but i just got to my email today. when i was little, my dad used to make "rabbit traps" with me. we took a shoe box, and propped it open with a stick. we tied a string to the stick and when a rabbit would come near, we'd pull the string. very simple. your kindergardener can decorate some kind of item to make it look like glittery gold to attract the leprechaun and trap him. hope this helps and makes your life a little easier :)