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How to make a Leprechaun Trap: A St. Patrick’s Day Engineering Challenge

In our house St. Patrick’s day brings out those tricky little Leprechauns. While they like to try and wreak havoc on the house, our kids desperately try to create traps for leperchauns.

Why learn how to make a Leprechaun trap?

For the chocolate gold of course! Our tradition is that Leprechauns who are trapped will pay you in gold chocolate coins to be able to escape unnoticed.

Each year our traps for leprechauns get more and more intricate. No longer will just a hole dug in the ground suffice. No, my girls really want to see a live Leprechaun. And each year, as the leprechaun traps get more and more ridiculous, so do the payouts. Cleverly engineered leprechaun traps garner handfuls of gold coins the Leprechauns have to pay to escape.

In fact, my girls started engineering their Leprechaun trap at the start of the year…in wood…with a hinged door. Did I mention they really really want to see a live Leprechaun?

Because this is such a loved tradition in my house I just had to bring it over to Rosie Research, because I think you’ll love this tradition too!

What do you need to make a Leprechaun trap?

This is such an open-ended question. You can use sticks, buckets, wood, props…the sky is the limit! We’ve used TP tubes as a small tunnel into a huge cave that, in theory, was escape proof. This year we have a wood box, complete with hinges and an overhang. Use your imagination. That is base of engineering, your imagination.

In past years we have just put our recycling bin on the table and told the girls to go for it. This year, because we have access to a wood shop and my husband wants to teach the girls’ woodworking and tool responsibility we have an entirely different creation.

Challenge yourself and your kids to think up unique ways to trap those mischevious Leprechauns, but don’t forget to buy the chocolate gold stash! We also like to hide the chocolate gold around the yard in various little holes or hideouts so the girls get a fun treasure hunt out of it as well!

How to make a Leprechaun Trap.

Here is a list of things to think about when you are figuring out how to make a leprechaun trap:

Is your leprechaun trap properly sized for tiny Leprechauns?
Is your leprechaun trap airtight or are there holes they can escape through?
What will you use to lure the Leprechauns into the trap?
How can you decorate your Leprechaun trap to catch their eye?
What mechanism will close the trap?

In this year’s project fake gold made from wood rounds will be our lure. The trap is airtight, and I mean airtight, as they nailed and glued that box together. We also have an overhang with high walls to make sure the little Leprechauns cannot reach the ledge and pull themselves over.

The trap has a hinged door that will be cracked open. The idea is Leprechauns will climb in after the fake gold and find themselves in the middle of a deep pit with sheer smooth walls that they can’t escape from. My girls are planning on making little ladders and forts to decorate the trap which will further attract Leprechauns and make it easier for them to get into the trap!

Setting your Leprechaun trap.

Making your Leprechaun trap is only half the battle when it comes to trapping a Leprechaun. You will also need to scout out the best area to set your Leprechaun trap. We have never had a Leprechaun visit inside our house – as hard as our girls look, they can’t ever seem to find those little green footprints on the toilet.

That means our traps are always set outside.

But if you have the little visitors inside you can take that into consideration as you are engineering your Leprechaun trap. Use the trap location to think about what kinds of materials might work (does it need to be waterproof?). I suggest setting your traps a day or two in advance to get your kids excited!

I hope you have a ton of fun making your traps and good luck finding a real Leprechaun!

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