A Leprechaun came to my house
What?? A green toilet, green juice, green applesauce, and everything’s a mess. What happened last night? How did this happen? That’s right, a leprechaun came to my house.
As St. Patrick’s Day is quickly approaching kids are starting to talk about Leprechauns. Where do Leprechaun’s live? Where can I find a Leprechaun? How can I catch a Leprechaun? These are the questions that I hear. The excitement builds as they think of ways to catch a Leprechaun. You can build on this curiosity and make a family tradition that you do each year.
To keep your kids occupied and busy here are a ton of ideas. Use this and make a Bored Jar. Don’t leave without printing these activities out.
Let’s have a little fun with our kids and see if we can catch a leprechaun.
Children are fascinated by these little creatures from Irish folklore. They are magical and mysterious and that is what makes them so exciting. Children everywhere are plotting and scheming to come up with a plan to catch a Leprechaun and see if there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
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Interesting Facts about Leprechauns
Before we go and catch a leprechaun, let’s learn a little about them first.
The leprechaun legend goes back to the 8th century. The tales were of water spirits called “luchorpán,” meaning small body. The legend eventually evolved into a sneaky household fairy said to haunt cellars and drink heavily.
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Leprechauns are known to live in Ireland in places that don’t have a lot of people. They live underground with secret entrances. They hide and stay away from people. If they are caught they have to grant that person 3 wishes. Leprechauns are like an Irish genie. It is said that leprechauns can live up to 300 years.
Leprechauns are shoemakers. Did you know there are no female leprechauns? It is reported that leprechauns were always male. They are known to wear green clothes, have a beard, and wear black buckle shoes.
The story of leprechauns was around a long time before the pot of gold came around.
You may have seen a famous leprechaun in popular culture. Lucky the Leprechaun is the mascot of the General Mills breakfast cereal Lucky Charms. We usually don’t eat Lucky Charms, but once in a while is good. I think we can get some lucky charms for St. Patricks Day.
Books to read about Leprechauns
Capture the spirit of leprechauns by reading some books together.
- How to Trap a Leprechaun (Magical Creatures and Crafts) by Sue Fliess
- That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting
- Ten Lucky Leprechauns by Kathryn Heling
- How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace
Give your kids gold treats
Surprise your little ones with a little gold treat. You can make gold cookies. It’s not hard all you need are Oreo’s and gold edible paint. Spray the oreo’s with the edible spray paint. Let them dry and serve up some gold treats.
How to make a Leprechaun trap
You have been reading and planing for days about catching a leprechaun. Now it’s time to make the perfect trap.
You can get really creative and make big, complicated traps or you can make simple and easy traps. Either way, it’s a fun bonding time with your kids. Discuss different traps with your kids and see what they like. By having them make the decision it makes building the trap much more fun.
I’m one who usually goes for easy and simple instead of really complicated. Here are some simple traps that you can set up quickly. You don’t need to plan ahead for these.
- Make a trap with legos. You can make a cube that has an opening on the top with a ladder on the side. Put some jelly beans inside to encourage the leprechaun to go in.
- Use a shoebox. First cut a hole in the top of the shoebox. Cover the hole with some construction paper so the leprechaun can fall in. Paint the shoebox green or cover in green construction paper. On the top of the shoebox glue yellow circles to look like coins. Write FREE GOLD on the top of the box.
- Cupcake liners. You can have a cupcake liner attached to a string that’s on the end of a stick or pole. Put the pole at the end of a table. Put gold coins on the floor underneath the pole.
Here you can get more ideas on making a leprechaun trap with your kids.
How do you find a leprechaun?
A fun way for your kids to look for a leprechaun is to make leprechaun binoculars. Yup, that’s right you need special binoculars to find leprechauns. It doesn’t take much and it’s part of the fun to prepare.
Materials:
- 2 toilet paper rolls
- green paint
- yellow paint or another color of your choosing
- paintbrush
- pom-poms
- Glue
- stickers
- markers
Instructions:
First, have your kids paint the toilet paper rolls. Once they dry then they can decorate them. You can use stickers, pom-poms, and markers to decorate however they like.
Once they are dried you then glue the toilet paper rolls together. Now you have beautifully made binoculars that are perfect for spotting a leprechaun.
What does a leprechaun do in your house?
Now that you know all about leprechauns, you made the traps, you read the books and have to see if any show up. Your kids made and set the traps and now the waiting begins. They wait, and wait, and wait some more. No leprechauns come and they finally go to sleep.
When they wake up they will be shocked at the huge mess left by a leprechaun. Green in the toilet, juice turned green, and cereal on the floor. “What did that silly leprechaun do?”
Have fun finding a leprechaun
The kids will have tons of fun making traps and hoping to catch a leprechaun. Have a camera ready for when the kids wake up and see what happened last night. Kids will be talking all day about how to find a leprechaun.
Start a new tradition by reading leprechaun books, making a trap, and waiting for a leprechaun to come to your house.
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