If you’re kids are anything like mine, they’ve been counting down the days until March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day, of course. Tonight is when the leprechauns come out in numbers to celebrate and hunt for gold. My kids love to make contraptions to try to trap one of the little buggers so they can get him to confess where his gold is hidden. I take advantage of this opportunity to re-purpose some of our trash. For the trap, you can use cereal boxes, Kleenex boxes, empty yogurt cups, old plates, bubble wrap, paper bags, and whatever else inspires you. You can also use items from nature: sticks, rocks painted gold, etc.
Below are some photos of traps we’ve made. Although, you may not want to copy our designs, as we have yet to capture a leprechaun…
My son’s favorite trap is to place some bubble wrap on an old plate and make a circle of paint on the table (or paper bag placemat) around the plate. He places gold-painted rocks on the center of the plate. When the leprechaun goes for the gold, he’ll pop the bubble wrap and get paint on his feed. Then we can follow his footprints back to his hiding place.
This is the first year my other child has been old enough to make a trap. He decided to build a big wall from a cereal box, with a trap door on top. There is a ladder propped up against the wall and a pot of gold placed on top of the trap door. When the leprechaun climbs the ladder to get the gold, he’ll fall in the trap and get caught in the box.
Another trap we’ve made in years past is a little more complex. A metal hanger is bent as shown in the photo. The rainbow is taped on to cover the hanger. There is a clear fish line running from the cloud (yogurt cup with cotton balls on) through the hanger loop above the rainbow and then down under the pot of gold. When the leprechaun picks up the pot of gold, the tension on the fish line is released allowing the cloud to drop down and catch the leprechaun.
The kids spend days in advance scheming plans for their traps. They always make sure to include fake gold, rainbows, something green, and signs saying “free gold”.
As I mentioned, they have yet to trap any real leprechauns, although they did find a leprechaun statue one time (Daddy said maybe it turned to stone when it got caught). Sometimes the leprechauns leave them fake gold (gold-wrapped chocolate coins found at Walgreens) and a note with really small writing that states “you can’t catch me” or “better luck next time.” One year they even had leprechaun kisses on their cheeks when they woke up. We stamped little lips on their cheeks with a rubber stamp when they were sleeping.
With a little though and preparation, this holiday can be fun for all! And best of all, you can re-purpose items that were headed to the trash.
What about you: Do you do anything fun for St. Patrick’s Day? Have you ever made a leprechaun trap?
No comments:
Post a Comment