Easy DIY Leprechaun Trap Idea for Kids

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Hi Friends! With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, it’s time for some leprechaun fun! In our house, we are on the hunt to try to catch one of these mischievous and magical little guys. To do so we made a leprechaun trap! This project originally came about from a school assignment that Sawyer was tasked to do. At Sawyer’s school each month there is a “family project” assignment where we are all supposed to work together as a family to complete the project at home. Well this was a fun one! Sawyer and Easton were both so excited to create this leprechaun trap. They planned and discussed the best way to capture these lucky and mysterious little green guys! We all know that leprechauns love gold so that was a definite must. Also, as part of the project, there had to be a moving element that would be able to trap the leprechaun. I thought using a swing top mini trash can would do the trick (and it worked quite nicely)! So between the gold and the black mini trash can, a natural fit was to create a pot of gold leprechaun trap. Below are all of the step-by-step instructions if you would like to make this trap too. Catch ’em in you can this St. Patrick’s Day! Good luck!

First, you will need the following materials to make this Leprechaun Trap: 

Swing Top Mini Trash Can
Gold Spray Paint
Plastic Gold Coins
Gold Paper Straws
Free Printables (located in the Free Printable Library)
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Optional: Glitter Shamrocks or any St. Patrick’s Day Stickers/Decorations for the back

Step 1: Start by removing the swing top lid from the trash can. Spray paint the lid gold. Allow paint to dry completely.

Step 2: While the paint is drying, print the Leprechaun Trap graphics from the Free Printable Library. (They are located under the “St. Patrick’s Day Printables” category in the library.) To make them more sturdy and durable, glue them to white foam board and then cut them out. Since we’ve heard that leprechauns are often naughty and like to disobey signs, we decided to try some reverse psychology with our sign messaging. We hope it works! 😉

Step 3: Next, hot glue the rainbow to the top front portion of lid. If you apply the hot glue pretty liberally, it should hold in place well on it’s own. If you want to reinforce it, you can always add a gold plastic coin as a support.

Step 4: Hot glue gold plastic coins all over the top lid, making sure to not have any coins hanging over the edges of the swing top portion. This will keep the lid from swinging freely.

Step 5: Then hot glue all of the printable signs in place on the bottom portion of the trash can. Now your pot of gold leprechaun trap is done!

Step 6: Since the trap is now complete, we just have to create a way for the leprechauns to reach the gold on the top. A ladder made out of gold metallic paper straws should do the trick! Simply cut and hot glue gold straws together until the ladder is as tall as you would like.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you have enjoyed our DIY leprechaun trap and that you are able to catch a lucky little one this year! If you make a trap too, I’d love to see it. Please follow along on Instagram and tag me. I love connecting with all of you and seeing your awesome creations!

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