A Trap for a Leprachaun.....

To the untrained eye, the above photo looks like a pile of junk.  In actuality, it is a very intricate trap to catch the elusive Erin Greenius Gold-hordicus....better known as the Irish Leprachaun.

My daughter got it in her head that this year, she wanted to catch a leprachaun and for weeks she has been planning a trap. She was planning to use a shoe box and spy equipment to catch the little green guy.  However, she made a fatal mistake.  She asked Mommy for help.

I really got into this little project and had a lot of fun with it.  Many times my daughter and I got
into fights regarding our creative vision for the trap, but in the end, we compromised on a lot.

As you can see, this is a plastic salad bowl propped up with a glue stick.  Under the bowl, we laid out the bait, coins and gold (costume of course).  What you may not be able to see is a piece of thread that is wrapped around the glue stick.  The thread was fed through short straws taped to the top and back of the bowl.  The thread is then tied to a piece of jewelry.  When the leprachaun takes the gold, he inadvertantly pulls the glue stick out from under the bowl, trapping him underneath.

But don't feel bad, there is a little cup of water and an oreo under the bowl.  This way the leprachaun wouldn't feel hungry or thirsty while he was trapped.

My daughter was very excited and woke up extra early on St. Patrick's Day to find that the trap had in fact been sprung.  But the leprachaun pushed the bowl to the edge of the coffee table and managed to escape.  But she was still excited to see that our trap worked.

Next year my trap will be better!!