How to catch a leprechaun

This Saint Patrick's Day start a new tradition with your kids, try to catch a Leprechaun! Now let me warn you, Leprechauns are super tricky and catching one is tougher than you may think! In fact, the New York Times Bestseller How to Catch a Leprechaun showcases just how tricky it is to catch a Leprechaun and how easily they can foil your trapping plans. Don't worry though there are plenty of different types of a traps that you can try, 15 of them are illustrated in the companion book, How to Build a Leprechaun Trap. These books are fun for the whole family and traps range in difficulty levels I picked the easiest one and created it with my toddlers. This year we are going to catch a Leprechaun!

This post is sponsored by Sourcebooks. I was given free product in exchange for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How To Catch a Leprechaun

This whimsical tale is told with a witty rhyming scheme and illustrated with fun, vibrant pictures. How to Catch a Leprechaun talks of how mischievous Leprechauns are when they get inside your home; leaving glitter everywhere, turning toilets green, and overflowing sinks! Trap by trap he is able to walk free and challenges kids to try harder with their traps as he leaves gold coins behind. A fun read that kept my toddlers fully engaged from beginning to end.

How To Catch a Leprechaun - Creating a Box Trap

Ready to build your own trap? How to Build a Leprechaun Trap provides 15 trap ideas with step by step instructions plus illustrations of what the final product should look like. On top of that there are 13 bonus activities included in the book. Activities like how to bake Irish Soda Bread, how to create a "Walking Rainbow" with mason jars and how to make a marshmallow catapult. 

Each trap and activity is rated on both difficulty and Leprechaun appeal. The difficulty rating is on a scale of 1 shamrock to 5 shamrocks, 1 being the easiest. In terms of Leprechaun appeal there is a rainbow scale starting at violet and ending at red, violet being the least appealing and red being the most!

When trying to figure out which trap my toddlers and I were going to create I wanted it to be as easy for us as possible. Luckily this box trap was given one shamrock for difficulty and yellow for appeal.

Box Trap Supplies

One shoe box
One stick
String
Cotton Balls
Construction paper
Scissors
Tape or glue

Optional Additions
Crayons
Stickers
Paint
Glitter

Box Trap Step 1

The first step to creating this Leprechaun box trap is to cover the box in green (a Leprechaun's favorite color). You can paint the box or you can cover it with green construction paper. I opted to go the mess-free route and covered the box in green construction paper.

Box Trap Step 2

Make the box as appealing as possible to the Leprechaun. I had my toddler draw on it with crayons and markers and stick Saint Patricks Day themed stickers (included in the book, How to Build a Leprechaun Trap). Prior to making this trap my toddler painted shamrocks for a wreath which is further down on this post, so I stuck an extra shamrock she painted on the trap to really entice the Leprechaun.

Box Trap Step 3

Leprechauns love rainbows! To catch the eye of the Leprechaun create a rainbow bridge to your trap with strips of construction paper creating a rainbow; we used red, orange, yellow, green, blue purple because we only had one shade of purple instead of indigo and violet.

Box Trap Step 4

Now for the tricks! You have to trick the Leprechaun into thinking there's gold inside your trap! They are easily fooled by "Free Gold" signs so I made sure to put one up right at the front of the trap. For gold coins you can use yellow construction paper cut into circles. I had my toddler color on white construction paper with a yellow crayon and I cut that into circles too. For added glitz you can put glitter on the yellow circles and if you really wanted to get tricky you can use gold wrapped chocolate coins.

Box Trap Step 5

Time to set up your trap! I suggest picking a spot by a window or door. Prop the box open with a stick (and be sure to tie a string around it) and then scatter your "gold coins" inside the open box. You can sprinkle some marshmallows from your favorite marshmallow cereal inside the trap too and once everything is set just sit and wait.

Creating this Leprechaun trap was so much fun! Since my girls are on the younger side I did all of the cutting and taping but they loved painting and coloring and sticking on the stickers and enjoyed watching me assemble everything. My oldest is in a "why" phase right now so with each step I was met with a "why you doing that?" which made me laugh every time! The best part about making this trap was that we had all of the supplies in our house! These traps are adaptable and can be as elaborate or as simple as you'd like them to be. 

Are you ready to catch your own Leprechaun? Purchase your copy of How to Catch a Leprechaun today and start building your trap!

Easy Shamrock Wreath Craft

Now that the trap is set we want to make sure our house looks enticing to a Leprechaun. We already know Leprechauns love the color green, but they also like St. Patrick's Day decorations. This Shamrock wreath is the perfect decoration to hang in your home so a Leprechaun will pay a visit. Bonus, this craft is so easy a toddler can do it (no really, mine did).

Shamrock Wreath Supplies

Green paint
​Shamrock shape
Construction paper (white or green)
Paint brush (or child's hands)
Scissors
Paper plate
Tape or glue

First, cut the center of your paper plate out, all you'll need it he outer rim. Then take your Shamrock shape (you can find one online or you can free-hand it if you're artsy like that). Next, trace your shape onto pieces of construction paper and have your toddler paint with their hands or with a brush. Once the paint is dry cut out the Shamrock shapes and attach them to your paper plate. For an added step you can paint your paper plate (like I did) incase your Shamrocks do not cover the entire surface.

Additional St. Patrick's Day Crafts and Treats

Here are additional crafts and treats you can create with your kids to prep for Saint Patricks Day!

Leprechaun Belt Cups
Take a green, disposable cup and attach a black ribbon around it and attach a yellow or gold square cut out to create a belt buckle.

Leprechaun Lemonade
Add a few drops of green food coloring to your favorite lemonade 

Lucky Chocolate-covered Oreos
Dip a a mint Oreo into melted vanilla almond bark (or melted white chocolate) sprinkle green sprinkles onto the dipped side and allow to harden.

Rainbow in a Bag
Fill a cellphone bag with layers of Skittles and include some wrapped Rolos.

Leprechaun Bait
Fill up some small baggies of Lucky Charms ​

More Books From The How to Catch Series

If you're ready to move on from catching small Leprechauns and want to catch something bigger The How to Catch series features How to Catch a Dinosaur and How to Catch a Dragon.