Leprechaun Trap

Books & Language Arts
Grades 4-5
Grades 1-3

Capture a leprechaun and maybe he’ll show you where he’s hidden his pot of gold! Create your very own leprechaun trap out of an upcycled milk carton!

Materials

EZ Grip Paint Brushes, 5 pack
Rainbow Fuzzy Sticks
Gold Glitter Glue 1.8 oz.
Green Glitter Glue 1.8 oz.
Acrylic Paint Jars, 24 Assorted colors
Rainbow Poms Assorted Sizes, 100 pieces
Wiggly Eyes 7mm
Mini Wooden Sticks
Skinny Sticks
Large Milk Carton
Green Construction Paper
Scissors
Recycled K-Cup
Craft Glue
Tape
Green Craft Foam
Yellow Glitter Craft Foam
Ruler
Pen

Instructions

Step 1. Gather your supplies.

Step 2.

Turn a large milk carton on its side and draw a rectangle, leaving about a half inch of space on each side.

Step 3.

Cut out the inside of the rectangle.

Step 4.

Cover the milk carton in green construction paper. Do not cover the rectangular window you cut out.

Step 5.

Paint the inside of the carton brown to give the appearance of the underground.

Step 6.

Draw shamrocks on top of the milk carton in green glitter glue. Set aside to dry.

Step 7.

To create a ladder use two skinny sticks and six mini wood sticks. Tilt the wood sticks to create a whimsical look!

Step 8.

Cut two skinny sticks in half. These will be the bars that cage in a leprechaun!

Step 9.

Paint the ladder and “bars” gold. Set aside to dry.

Step 10.

Cut out a large arrow from yellow glitter foam.

Step 11.

Spell “GOLD” in green foam poster stickers and outline the arrow in green glitter glue.

Step 12.

Once the glitter glue is dry, flip over the arrow and attach a skinny stick with tape to the back. Set aside

Step 13.

Paint a recycled K-Cup black. This will be a “pot of gold”.

Step 14.

Cut half an inch off of the top of the K-Cup. Curl a gold glitter fuzzy stick around your finger and put it inside the cup. Set aside.

Step 15.

Cut a red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple fuzzy stick in half.

Step 16.

Glue all of the fuzzy sticks together on one side and form them into a small arch. Set aside to dry.

Step 17.

To create a leprechaun. glue a medium tan pom on top of a large green pom. Glue two small black poms to the bottom of the large green pom.

Step 18.

Glue three small orange poms to the bottom of the tan pom. Add two small wiggly eyes and a dark tan mini pom as his nose.

Step 19.

For the leprechaun’s hat cut a 2 ½” by ¾” strip of green craft foam and make it into a cylinder. Glue to secure. Then cut out a circle that is slightly larger than the cylinder and glue them together. Use gold glitter glue to add a buckle on the front of the hat.

Step 20.

Glue the hat to the leprechaun’s head. Glue the pot of gold, rainbow and leprechaun into the milk carton.

Step 21.

Glue the four half skinny sticks evenly spaced over the window you created on the carton. Glue the ladder to the lip of the carton and then glue the bottom of the skinny stick holding the arrow to the bottom of the ladder. Make sure the arrow is pointing to the spout of the carton, as shown.

Teacher's Corner

Celebrate St. Patrick’s day reading about the leprechaun legends and trying to catch your very own!

Lesson Objectives

Tiny Tricksters: Leprechauns hide their treasure in pots of gold at the end of rainbows — catching them will bring luck and fortune! Is the hunt worth it? Share the history of these tricksters with your students to find out!
Read All About It: Just like Irish myths, many modern children’s books feature leprechaun characters. Bring a little tradition to your next storytime with the Chicago Public Library’s list of leprechaun tales!

Follow-up Discussion

The stories that surround St. Patrick’s day hold the history of Irish culture and traditions. Encourage your students to check out this list of best St. Patrick’s day books at your local library to enhance their reading skills during the holiday!