Leprechauns aren’t real, right? This is what you will ask your students before presenting them with this leprechaun trap STEM activity that will fit right in with your St. Patrick’s Day STEAM activities! This St. Patrick’s Day, challenge your class or children at home to design their very own leprechaun trap. This is one of the St. Patrick’s Day activities that my kids ask to repeat every year!
This leprechaun trap building challenge will push kids’ creativity and engineering skills to the max and they will have endless fun designing and testing their leprechaun traps in this engineering activity for kids.
Table of Contents
How to Make a Leprechaun Trap
Follow along with these directions and make a plan to catch your very own leprechaun! What elements of STEM will you use to design your trap?
What Kids Learn Making Leprechaun Traps
With the leprechaun trap STEM activity, kids use several STEM elements. Children must engineer a trap that will work to catch their imaginary leprechaun.
Elementary and middle school students must use elements of physics to make sure their design is stable and will actually trap the live leprechaun.
Children will also use math to determine the angles and structure of the box design.
If you’d like more St. Patrick’s Day STEM activities for elementary and middle school students, try another favorite St. Patrick’s Day science experiment making pots of gold that sparkle through science (video directions above).
Click here for the step by step directions showing how to grow crystals with salt. And all kids will have a blast making this colorful rainbow slime.
STEM Extension Ideas for a Leprechaun Trap
Use these STEAM extensions to make your leprechaun trap STEM activity even more educational.
Science
How does physics play into your trap design?
Technology
What pieces of technology are used in your leprechaun trap?
Engineering
Design the box so that it traps the leprechaun and keeps it from escaping! You can also try limiting construction to specific items, like craft sticks or building blocks.
Art
Make your box pretty so it will attract the leprechauns!
Math
You can’t learn about physics without math! Take a few minutes to discuss the math of physics. Modify the conversation to fit the grade level of your students.
More STEM Activity Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day
If you want more fun St. Patrick’s Day STEM ideas, try making a DIY bouncy ball, trying these St. Patrick’s Day STEAM activities, putting together some St. Patrick’s Day STEM sensory bins, or build a LEGO rainbow!
Check out our list of St. Patrick’s Day science worksheets and our set of 8 complete lesson plans in the St. Patrick’s Day STEAM lesson plan bundle too!
You may also like to try some of our Rainbow Science Experiments! And check out our second version making a leprechaun trap in these directions for how to make a Leprechaun trap!
Or you might like to use this leprechaun trap printable to go along with your leprechaun trap building activity.
More Resources for Teaching Kids about St. Patrick’s Day
Here are some additional resources you can use during March to teach kids about the Irish holiday St. Paddy’s Day!
St. Patrick’s Day Books for the Classroom
Use these books about St. Patrick’s Day to supplement your St. Patrick STEM activities this March!
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities
The Story Behind St. Patrick’s Day
Celebrations in My World: St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick STEM Activity Resources for the Classroom
Here are some fun St. Patrick’s themed STEM products you can use with your students this March!
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities
MagiCoders Rainbow Unicorn Coding Kit
St. Patrick’s Day Bingo Classroom Kit
Kaleidoscope STEAM Kit for the Classroom
Clixo Rainbow Engineering Classroom Set
Disappearing Rainbow Science Experiment
Fools Gold Science Dig Classroom Kit
Leprechaun Trap STEM Classroom Kit
What You Need to Build a Leprechaun Trap
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- Building supplies (small boxes, string, glue, paper towels, straws, coffee filters, etc.)
- Scissors
- Leprechaun bait (gold coins, rainbows, marshmallows)
Bankers Box SmoothMove Classic Moving Boxes Kit, Tape-Free Assembly, Small/Med, 12 Pack (7716401)Novelty Amscan Plastic Gold Coins Value Pack – 400 Ct.Fun Express Dozen Miniature Candy Kettles Novelty, 2 1/4-2 3/4Fiesta Toys Lucky Leprechaun Plush, 8How to Catch a LeprechaunLeprechaun Footprint Floor Decals Stickers (16 Pairs) for St. Patrick’s Day DecorationLot Of 12 Assorted Design And Color Rainbow Theme ErasersFun Filled St Patrick’s Day Party Mini Rubber Eraser , Multi Color, Rubber , 5 3/4
How to Make a Leprechaun Trap That Really Works
Making a leprechaun trap is a fun St. Patrick’s Day STEM activity for elementary-aged kids.
There are a lot of ways to be creative and fun with this activity, but the lessons of STEM still apply. Kids will love repeating this STEM activity from year to year.
Leprechaun Trap STEM Activity Set-Up
Before starting this Leprechaun trap STEM activity, decide what limits you want to place on the activity.
Maybe your challenge includes having a drop of some kind, so the leprechaun can fall in. Maybe you want the kids to make their traps using only craft sticks.
Or, leave the project completely open-ended! Gather your supplies together before starting.
Before letting the kids start the activity, go over the STEM elements.
In my experience, once the kids start building their projects they don’t listen as well, so it’s better to let them have the background knowledge before they get started!
Download our FREE STEM challenge worksheet by clicking the image above to help students through the complete STEM process while making their leprechaun traps.
Leprechaun Trap STEM Extension Ideas
Here are some questions to ask the students when completing the St Patricks Day STEM activity completing the leprechaun trap STEM challenge.
- How does the leprechaun’s size influence how big the trap needs to be?
- Can you name 3 ways to design a trap?
- How strong does the trap have to be?
- What could make your trap better next time?
Allow your students to come up with their own extension questions when building a leprechaun trap to help them take charge of their own St Patricks Day activities.
How to Make a Leprechaun Trap
Follow along with the directions below to make a leprechaun trap and to trap a leprechaun (or at least, that’s the hope!) right in the classroom!
St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Trap STEM Project
Build engineering skills this March 17th by creating you very own classroom leprechaun trap!\
The leprechaun trap STEM activity is the perfect ST. Patrick's Day engineering activity to blend a fun holiday with STEM and STEAM learning and to teach the STEM process and scientific method to students.
Instructions
The design that my students made for their leprechaun trap STEM activity was a classic rabbit trap.
The kids made a box with a loose stick that was designed to fall easily.
When the "leprechaun" entered the box to gather the treats, the kids pulled the string and trapped it.
Of course, the kids knew the leprechaun wasn't real, but it was fun to test with each other!
Test each student's design and let the other kids vote on the best design.
St. Patrick STEM Activity Resources for the Classroom
Here are some fun St. Patrick’s themed STEM products you can use with your students this March!
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities
MagiCoders Rainbow Unicorn Coding Kit
St. Patrick’s Day Bingo Classroom Kit
Kaleidoscope STEAM Kit for the Classroom
Clixo Rainbow Engineering Classroom Set
Disappearing Rainbow Science Experiment