Kids & Crafts

{Kids & Crafts} Leprechaun Traps, Take 2

Posted by on Mar 4, 2013 | 0 comments

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and you know what that means… it’s time to get ready to trap your very own leprechaun!

This is, by far, my most favorite craft for Brady and I to do together. He loves painting and adding embellishments/stickers; I love that each year we can make the same thing, but use our imaginations to bring it to life in very different ways. And the anticipation of maybe catching the wee lad makes it that much more intriguing for my 4 year old! No telling when he’ll be too old (or too cool) for doing these kinds of activities with Mom, so I’m enjoying it as much as I can right now.

LeprechaunTrapSupplies

Since this was our second year building leprechaun traps, we actually had most of the “supplies” we needed on hand (green & gold paint, shamrock stickers, gold coins, etc.) To spice things up, I picked up a few new items in the dollar bins at Michaels, along with a box of Brady’s choosing. So in total, this year’s leprechaun trap cost us a total of $7. Not too shabby!!

Building Leprechaun Trap

{that is not washable paint, therefore, we paint shirtless. well, just him.}

When it comes to the design/construction, I let Brady take the reigns. He didn’t want to deviate too far from last year’s design, so we are using the “propped up lid with a stick” approach again this year. While we were unsuccessful in catching Lucky the Leprechaun last St. Patty’s Day, Brady is hopeful that this year’s trap will (and I quote) “get him good”.

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Kristin and her girls made new leprechaun traps as well. Truth be told, with them living in Grand Cayman, I was expecting there to be some sand… I imagine it’s pretty hard to lure a leprechaun in from the beach!

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Leprechaun Trap_01

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{with traps this cute, how could a wee little leprechaun resist?}

Are you building leprechaun traps with your little ones for St. Patrick’s Day? If so, attach a link in the comments so we can check them out! And when it comes to catching your very own leprechaun, may the odds be ever in your favor (am I allowed to say that?!)

 

Update: I’m linking this post up to the Pinterest Power Party on the Be Sweet blog (hosting along with Living On Love and Cents, The Taylor House, and Sister-Dipity.) I’m #58 . Come view my link and help me be one of the top 5 viewed projects! xo 

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I Scored at the Target Dollar Bins!

Posted by on Feb 27, 2013 | 0 comments

Is there anything more exciting than when Target gets new inventory for their “Dollar Bins”?! Ok ok, I’m sure there is, but indulge me a little, won’t you…

I get a little disappointed when I walk into Target and see the same picked over items in those glorious dollar bins. I mean, a girl only needs so many magnetic notepads. Problem is, there’s no way of knowing when the new goods are coming. I wish I could get an alert to my phone every time they get new merchandise so I can be the first in line at the store (are you listening Target??)

So needless to say, I was thrilled when I laid eyes on all the new Spring/Easter items in the bins on Sunday. I ended up with a whole basketful of craft items for me and educational items for Brady (thanks to LeapFrog and Highlights!), but our fave by far were these Sugar Stencils (6 pack, $1).

Easter Stencils

One of Brady’s favorite past-times these days is drawing with stencils. We got him this Robo Stencil Set at Land of Nod for Christmas, and he absolutely loves it. And we recently picked up some alphabet stencils at Michaels for him to practice writing with as well. He’s always looking for something new he can trace or outline, so his eyes lit up when I came across these stencils.

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I know, I know, they are meant to be used for decorating cupcakes and cookies, but they make such cute (and cheap) festive stencils for my little drawing fool! He’s been very busy the last few days making Easter cards for the whole family.

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Have you scored with any cool (cheap) items lately?

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So, What Happened on St. Patty’s Day?!

Posted by on Mar 19, 2012 | 0 comments

So, What Happened on St. Patty’s Day?!

If you’re anything like my husband, you were skeptical of this whole leprechaun trap thing from the very beginning. For some reason, “you’re over-thinking it”, “it’s seriously not that big of a deal”, and “your son is only 3″ were not good enough answers for him when I was prompted with the question of… “what’s going to happen on St. Patrick’s Day when Brady wakes up and there is no leprechaun in the trap??” The proof had to be in the pudding.

Please let me reiterate (or iterate for the first time if I didn’t say it before), THIS WHOLE THING WAS JUST FOR FUN. I never promised my son that we’d catch a live leprechaun, that it would live with us forever and be his new best friend. I just said, “let’s do a fun project together and see what happens!”, knowing the entire time it was just going to some sort of plastic coin/candy swap. I’m sure he thought there was a possibility that we could actually catch one, but I tried to manage his expectations along the way.

It wasn’t until the day before that I really started to think of some other ways to bring the St. Patty’s Day experience to life for him.  Not because I’m some overachieving Mom who needed fodder for her blog (ok, maybe it was 15% about that), but because this was a very unique time in Brady’s life– he knows enough about the holiday to get into the spirit, but isn’t old enough to start poking holes in every detail that didn’t exactly… add up.

Here’s how the whole shenanigan went down…

The night before, Brady and I set up his leprechaun trap on a table near the front door. We discussed how the leprechaun would come in looking for gold and when we made his way into our treasure chest, the trap would fall on him… and that it may or may not work.

After he went to bed, I removed the “gold” and replaced it with a handful of Andes Candies (green mint & chocolate– perfect). I removed the stick so it looked like the trap had been tripped.

I used a hole punch to make some confetti with green construction paper, and along with some shamrock stickers, made a path on floor from the front door up to the trap (to create his magical foot prints).

I left a note for Brady from Lucky the Leprechaun and placed it next to the trap.

For S & Gs, I used some green food coloring to die the water in the toilet green. No, this has nothing to do with the leprechaun trap, but it was meant to show that the leprechaun had REALLY been in our house (and I thought it was funny).

I put a green tablecloth on the kitchen table and decorated it with shamrock stickers and other embellishments, green carnations and a individual size box of Lucky Charms in Brady’s seat (luckily for us, it’s a cereal B had never seen before).

Later that morning, we ate green pancakes and drank green milk (courtesy of Mom & Dad, not Lucky!)

And here’s how Brady reacted on St. Patty’s Day morning…

** Please excuse my “morning voice”, my unnecessary squealing, and my husband’s pasty white legs **

The entire thing cost me about $30 (trap & treats) and took about 1 hour to make/set-up… and Brady has not stopped talking about it since! All in all, I think it was well worth it and I hope, hope, hope we can do it again next year.

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{Kids & Crafts} Leprechaun Traps

Posted by on Mar 13, 2012 | 0 comments

{Kids & Crafts} Leprechaun Traps

All the searches for “St. Patrick’s Day” on Pinterest got our creative juices flowing, so Kristin & I decided to take a crack at making Leprechaun Traps of our very own (Kristin’s oldest daughter actually needed to make one for school, but it ended up being a great way to get both kids involved).  It’s also a great way to keep your kids entertained for… well, more than 5 minutes. And the best part is that you can make your Trap however you want; there’s no right or wrong way, and once you get started, the project can take on a life of its own depending on your child’s imagination!

We (I mean, our kids) were very proud to display their finished projects.  The question I received most frequently from other adults was… “What do you tell your kid on St. Patrick’s Day when there isn’t a leprechaun in the box??”, to which I responded, “The magical little fella was just too sneaky to catch.” And when my 3 year old sees the bag of chocolate coins he left behind in place of the real coins, I don’t think he’ll much care.

As I said, you can make your traps however you want, but if you need some inspiration, here’s how we made ours–

Kristin’s

  • 1 cereal box
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Green construction paper to wrap the box
  • A rainbow (we colored ours on cardboard)
  • Golden light weight paper for path
  • Legos for stairs
  • Pot of gold with coins
  • Any other St. Pat’s Day colored stickers or craft materials to decorate

 

First, we laid the cereal box down and cut a hole three quarters of the way toward the other end.  Second, we covered the entire box with green construction paper allowing the hole to been seen.  Third, we attached the rainbow, made out of cardboard, to the end of the box with tape.  Fourth, we taped a small square of golden shiny paper over the trap hole.  Then, made the rest of the walk way leading up to the hole by putting more shiny paper (decorate however you want).  Fifth, we put a pot of gold coins under the rainbow.  Lastly, we made stairs made out of Legos for the Leprechaun to walk up.  And there you go….you have a Leprechaun trap!

Heather’s

  • 1 small box (if you have an old shoebox, you can use that, but I would then suggest using green paint or colored paper to cover the design)
  • 1 small wooden treasure chest
  • Gold metallic paint
  • Small sponge paint brush
  • Small rectangle piece of green felt
  • Plastic gold coins
  • St. Patty’s stickers/embellishments
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Washable Markers


First, I got my son busy painting the treasure chest gold while I cut away one full side of the box to give it an opening (if you have a shoe box, you won’t need to do that). Then I let him paint the outside of the box. Second, we glued the pom poms down onto the felt paper to make a trail to the treasure. Third, I let B go to town sticking stickers all over the box and felt (have I ever mentioned how much the kid loves “sticking stickers”?! Could do it for hours!) Fourth, we colored a rainbow with markers on the leftover piece of box that I cut out, and made a sign that said, “Welcome Leprechauns”. Fifth, we stuffed the treasure chest with the plastic coins. Sixth, we clued on the rainbow and sign.  And lastly, we took a stick from the backyard and propped up the box (and to trip the trap). Voila!

** All of the items shown above were purchased at Michael’s, for under $15 **

Did you make a Leprechaun Trap of your own?  Comment with a link to your’s, we’d love to see it!! And if you have any other fun St. Patty’s Day crafts you’d like to share, please do. T-minus 4 days…

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