Leprechauns are super tricky and really fast, so if you want to find out the secret about where their gold is hidden you must set a leprechaun trap! Once you catch them they are obligated to tell you the truth, but you must act quickly. Try this homemade cereal box leprechaun trap to see if you are lucky.

Cereal Box Leprechaun Trap

This leprechaun trap is a fun St. Patrick’s Day craft to do with the kids, and most of the supplies you’ll probably already have on hand. It also makes the perfect classroom project!

Another fun classroom project are these Craft Stick Leprechaun Hats. And for an even easier way to celebrate in the classroom, check out our printable St. Patrick’s Day Bingo!

What you’ll need

ATTENTION PARENTS – I’ve used glitter for this project. There are alternatives if you prefer not to use glitter. There’s glitter glue, but it will take time to dry, as will glitter paint. You can also use gold craft paint, or if you’re lucky enough to find them, use plastic gold coins that can sometimes be found at the dollar store.

• Recycled cereal box
• Gold glitter
• Construction paper green, red, blue, purple, yellow, orange, white
• Cotton balls
• 12-inch dowel or stick
• 36-inch piece of yarn or string
• White craft glue
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Tape

How to Make a Cereal Box Leprechaun Trap

1. Close the open end of the cereal box using tape. Cut the front (or back) of the cereal box off. Cover the box with green construction paper.
2. Using the piece of cardboard you just removed from the cereal box, cover a section with the glue stick. Sprinkle the glue with glitter and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Tape the excess off onto a piece of paper and funnel the excess glitter back into the glitter container.
3. Cut the glittered cardboard into squares. Use scissors to round the corners of the squares to make gold coins. Set the coins aside.
4. Cut red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple construction paper into 2-inch wide strips. Begin with red, glue the orange strip on top of the red overlapping by 1-inch.
5. Next add yellow, overlapping the orange by 1-inch. Continue this process with green, blue, and purple. Trim 1 inch off the last (purple) strip so that all visible colors are 1-inch wide. This is your rainbow path.
   
6. Cover a piece of white construction paper with white craft glue. Add cotton balls to the craft glue to create the clouds.
7. To connect the rainbow path to the cloud, run a bit of glue stick along the underside edge of the path and stick it to the white paper, just under the cotton balls.
8. Pile some of the gold coins onto the cloud, then create a “bread crumb” type trail of coins from the cloud down the rainbow path.

How to Play

Get your kids to set up the trap by placing the clouds and path on the table or floor. Tie yarn around one end of the dowel. Prop the cereal box up with the dowel and hide!

When the leprechaun follows the gold trail and ends up inside the box with the pile of gold, pull the yarn which will yank out the dowel and drop the box, trapping the leprechaun inside! Be sure to remind your kids that they are very, VERY fast. So fast, they may not even see him escape! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

More St. Patrick’s Day Crafts

• End of the Rainbow Loot Buckets
• 3D Tissue Paper Shamrock
• St. Patrick’s Day Slime
• Craft Stick Leprechaun Hat
• Winking Paper Plate Leprechaun

This post was originally published on this blog on Mar 6, 2014.