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How to Trap a Leprechaun: Fun Leprechaun Trap STEM Activity

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 STEM activity 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.

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.

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.

stem leprechaun trap

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.

st patrick stem challenges

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.

Epic leprechaun trap STEM activity that students love! A favorite St. Patrick's Day STEM activity in elementary and middle school classes alike!

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!

Build STEM skills in a fun way! The leprechaun trap STEM activity is a fun STEM activity for St. Patrick's Day that kids of all ages will love. Try the leprechaun trap challenge in your classroom or at home! #stemactivities #stpatricksday #kidsactivities #stem

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!

leprechaun trap and other st patricks day stem activities

St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities

exploring the elements gold book

Exploring the Elements: Gold

how to catch a leprechaun book

How to Catch a Leprechaun

say yes to elements book

Say Yes to Elements

the story behind st patricks day book

The Story Behind St. Patrick’s Day

rainbow science book

Rainbow Science

celebrations in my world st patricks day book

Celebrations in My World: St. Patrick’s Day

my country ireland book

My Country Ireland

light makes a rainbow book

Light Makes a Rainbow

exploring the elements gold book

Elements of Chemistry: Gold

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!

leprechaun trap and other st patricks day stem activities

St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities

unicorn magicoders game

MagiCoders Rainbow Unicorn Coding Kit

st patrick bingo

St. Patrick’s Day Bingo Classroom Kit

diy kaleidoscope classroom steam kit

Kaleidoscope STEAM Kit for the Classroom

clixo rainbow stem pack

Clixo Rainbow Engineering Classroom Set

solar rainbow maker

Make a Rainbow Science Kit

disappearing rainbow science demonstration kit

Disappearing Rainbow Science Experiment

fools gold dig science kit

Fools Gold Science Dig Classroom Kit

leprechaun trap classroom kit

Leprechaun Trap STEM Classroom Kit

st patricks day stem challenges free

What You Need to Build a Leprechaun Trap

This post contains affiliate links. When you buy through one of my links, I make a small commission. 

  • Building supplies (small boxes, string, glue, paper towels, straws, coffee filters, etc.)
  • Scissors
  • Leprechaun bait (gold coins, rainbows, marshmallows)

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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.

Build STEM skills in a fun way! The leprechaun trap STEM activity is a fun STEM activity for St. Patrick's Day that kids of all ages will love. Try the leprechaun trap challenge in your classroom or at home! #stemactivities #stpatricksday #kidsactivities #stem

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!

STEM extension worksheets

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.

easy leprechaun trap
  • 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 patricks day stem challenges free
Build STEM skills in a fun way! The leprechaun trap STEM activity is a fun STEM activity for St. Patrick's Day that kids of all ages will love. Try the leprechaun trap challenge in your classroom or at home!

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.

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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!

leprechaun trap and other st patricks day stem activities

St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities

unicorn magicoders game

MagiCoders Rainbow Unicorn Coding Kit

st patrick bingo

St. Patrick’s Day Bingo Classroom Kit

diy kaleidoscope classroom steam kit

Kaleidoscope STEAM Kit for the Classroom

clixo rainbow stem pack

Clixo Rainbow Engineering Classroom Set

solar rainbow maker

Make a Rainbow Science Kit

disappearing rainbow science demonstration kit

Disappearing Rainbow Science Experiment

fools gold dig science kit

Fools Gold Science Dig Classroom Kit

leprechaun trap classroom kit

Leprechaun Trap STEM Classroom Kit

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