creative

Leprechaun traps are a great idea for getting children to think of engineering ideas and get creative!

They had to form a vision, experiment with ideas, and create something! They were seeing a new purpose for materials not in use and using research to develop informed ideas. I love these kind of projects and teaching this kind of thought process. This is the type of learning that sticks with them and encourages independence in making discoveries. It is not only about learning how to create a pulley or functioning trap. It’s about creating new, productive ways of thinking!

We started by gathering up old cereal boxes, soda bottles, and yogurt cups.

We printed some coloring pages to use in our traps. Four leaf clovers, rainbows, leprechauns, and the flag of Ireland all made great additions to our project.

Little Miss Autumn Pearl played with Play-doh to stay busy and out of trouble.

We then began using our imaginations and discussing ideas on how to catch a leprechaun. We found out that they love to make shoes, collect gold, and play at the end of rainbows. We discovered they are Irish and are lucky.

We made pots of gold to lure our leprechaun to the traps out of yogurt cups wrapped in black construction paper. Using legos we built steps to get to the gold. Jett added a guitar to his trap just in case leprechauns like music. The idea is that the leprechaun will climb in the pot of gold, hit the straws which will cause the roof to collapse, trapping him in the pot.

Rileigh’s had some extra girly elements to it. She also thought to make a shoe shop on the back of hers to help entice him.

They loved this and were quite proud of their creations! Afterwards, we discussed who St. Patrick was and his history. We looked up his prayers and discussed what they meant. We read about traditions, Ireland, and more! We finished with cupcakes with green sprinkles!