DIY Leprechaun Traps for St Patrick's Day

Despite my initial skepticism, I’m happy to report that leprechaun traps are a really fun STEM activity!

This is a big claim for me to make, because I’ve made it 12 years into parenthood and never tried this activity because I looked at the idea of making leprechaun traps like an Elf on the Shelf.. too much work for mom?!

collage of children working on building leprechaun traps out of upcycled materials

DIY Leprechaun Traps Project for Kids

My change of heart all started when I felt like doing something themed and special this year: my oldest is 12 and I suspect we may start to see him outgrow some of these projects in the coming years. I started digging into St Patrick’s Day projects and the DIY leprechaun trap idea kept coming up so I did some digging and I realized..

It’s actually a super interesting STEM activity that has the potential to deeply engage kids in creative problem solving!

And just to sweeten the deal, it is also totally possible to do this at a cost of $0 if you have any art supplies and random trash around (we did)! Even if you opt to buy a few things, this is still a super affordable project and a great way to upcycle food containers and boxes that would otherwise have been garbage.

Supply Ideas for Making a Leprechaun Trap

There is no set list of what you MUST have to make leprechaun traps – it’s really an incredibly flexible project! Check out some of what we used:

supplies arranged on a table for making leprechaun traps include chip containers, empty boxes, scrap paper, scissors, glue, tape, fake gold coins, paper straws, and string

Some of the supplies arranged on our table for making leprechaun traps include:

empty and washed out cylinder chip container (Good crisp company is our fave!)
empty boxes
scrap paper & construction paper (I bought this pack in 2023 and haven’t needed to buy more yet!)
scissors
paper plates
glue & glue sticks (I bought this pack of glue sticks in Feb 2025 and still haven’t needed more!)
tape
fake gold coins
paper straws (leftover from making these Cupid’s arrows!)
string
There are even some of sticky gnat traps in there!

We do a decent amount of art activities and crafting and I like to buy things in larger quantities once in a while (spread out over a year or two usually) instead of smaller purchases more often, so we did have a decent stockpile to work with.

Markers would have been great for decorating too – we just liked the look of the construction paper! Here’s a picture of us using construction paper and glue to make pretty rainbow stripes:

decorating a leprechaun trap with colored construction paper and glue

Once we had the supplies laid out, I pretty much turned the kids loose at first. Some started off a little slow and trying out the ideas in their heads and didn’t immediately start gluing stuff together. Some immediately started gluing stuff!

I wanted it to be a project that felt like it was theirs so I really forced myself to sit back and let them roll with it. If my kids were younger, I would have started out with asking some questions right away. See below for the questions I did end up asking!

children hard at work testing their leprechaun traps

Scientific Inquiry Question Ideas for Leprechaun Traps

As things were coming together, I suggested we test the beginning premises of their traps. I would encourage you during the trap making process to ask your child the follow questions at some point:

What are you using for bait? (Fake gold coins for us – you get to decide what leprechaun’s are attracted to!)

How big is a leprechaun? (my youngest child had some cute answers to this.. we decided they were small enough to sit in your hand)

Where is the leprechaun going to step?

What mechanism will cause him to be trapped?

How might he be able to sneak around your trap?

Will he be able to get out of it?

a young kindergarten student using paper plates to build a leprechaun trap

The younger the child, the more basic and fun I would keep the project and the questions. My older kids really enjoyed being pushed and recognizing the weaknesses in their traps and trying to make them as fool proof as possible!

Catching a Leprechaun on St Patrick’s Day

My kids don’t know this yet, but on St Patrick’s Day, I’m planning to have evidence that a leprechaun was near their traps and managed to escape.

He (are leprechauns always boys? I don’t know that I’ve ever considered a leprechaun to be female.. please let me know if you have any folk or fairy tales with girl leprechauns, this is an interesting idea to me!) might leave some chocolate gold coins behind if I have time to go to the store, but he will definitely leave some gold glitter because I happen to already have that, ha!

Overall, this project was a pleasant surprise. I was impressed with the STEM and problem-solving opportunities in the engineering, and most importantly, we had a lot of fun and made some sweet memories building these!

Please let me know if you give it a try!

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