Leprechaun Trap for Toddlers!

It seems like everyone with kids has been talking about making (or refusing to make) a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick’s Day. To be honest, I had never heard of this before but thought I’d give it a try with my little one. Most of the traps I’ve seen on the internet are way more advanced than anything my son can do at his age. I had to come up with something simple and easy enough for a two-year-old. That’s when I set out to make the perfect leprechaun trap for toddlers!

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Materials Used:

• Empty Coffee Can
• Green paint
• Gold Sharpie
• Stickers – I got mine from The Dollar Tree
• Cotton balls
• Rainbow Cutout – Michael’s
• Leprechaun toy
• Gold coins – Plastic and/or chocolate from Dollar Tree and Target
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun

I really tried to keep things “green” by rescuing an empty coffee can from the recycling bin and repurposing it. A coat of green paint and it was ready for the tedious toddler application of stickers. Once the stickers were on, my son was done! I used a gold Sharpie to write “Free Gold Inside!” on the can.

I cut a hole in the lid for the trap and asked if he wanted to help Mama put the clouds on the coffee can lid, which he took to mean trying to rip the cotton balls off after each precise hot glue placement on my part.

 

The little bugger finally left the clouds alone and helped me fill the pot with gold for the leprechaun.

That was it! He was out! I was surprised he lasted as long as he did with this activity! The perfect amount of involvement for him was the stickers and that was all. It was really the only way to make a leprechaun trap for a two-year-old, as far as I’m concerned.
I’m not a huge fan of the whole “catch a leprechaun and take his gold” idea as some of you already know from reading my post about why I created the A Leprechaun’s Poem. I told my son that we were making the can pretty for the leprechaun so he would come visit. We are giving him some “gold” and in exchange, he might leave some chocolate. My son’s interest is now restored and he is anxiously awaiting our wee visitor! All I had to do was mention the word “chocolate”!

As an added surprise I got this cute little leprechaun toy and I’m going to leave one on the “trap” as a souvenir from the leprechaun. His way of saying thank you to my son for playing nice and not trying to catch him! Lol!

Am I the only one who doesn’t like the idea of a leprechaun trap? Did you make a leprechaun trap this year? Please share in the comments! I’d love to hear from you!

~ Cassie