Did you procrastinate and need some last minute leprechaun tricks to wow the kids? Me too, so you're in the right place for fun pranks that the kids will remember for years to come. Most of these silly leprechaun tricks can be done with almost no prep. Some others do require items that are really easy to get at your local store. Green food coloring will go a LONG way!
To make it easy, I've separated the leprechaun trick ideas into 4 categories, so you can find what you need right away by clicking the subsection that matches what you want.
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Trip the Trap! Each year before St. Patrick's day, I always have my kids build their own leprechaun trap where they entice them to enter their construction with the promise of gold. I have a free printable Leprechaun trap design sheet you can use to do this with kids or students! In the morning, the kids love to check the trap to see if they finally caught a leprechaun. Of course, I've already tripped the traps.
Shamrock Surprise: Hide shamrock stickers in unexpected places like their books or under their pillows.
Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt: This FREE Printable by Brooklyn Berry Designs is so awesome! Get ready for lots of excitement and laughs, thanks to those pesky leprechauns.
Magic Mirror Messages: Write leprechaun-themed messages on the bathroom mirror with soap or whiteboard markers. "Don't forget to wear green today!"
Melted Crayon Rainbow: Remove the peels from some crayons and glue them down on a surface, then blow dry them to make a wax rainbow courtesy of the leprechauns!
Leprechaun Laughs: Play a recording of leprechaun laughs or jingles and see their puzzled faces as they try to locate the source.
Paper Towel Leprechaun Magic: Cut a small section of paper towel and fold in half like a card. On the inside, where you would normally write a message in a card, draw a picture: leprechaun, clover, rainbow. Fold it over so that you can't see the message and then write on top, "Put in water." Once you place it in there, the image below is revealed! Magic!
Invisible Ink: Write a secret message with lemon juice on paper. Let them discover it when they gently heat it up (with supervision, of course!). For how to do it check out Team Cartwright's awesome post.
Mustache Mischief: Leprechauns are known for their red hair. Grab these silly mustaches and use the ginger ones to leave mischievous mustaches on random things like their favorite teddy bear!
Leaping Leprechaun Tracks: Use green paint or chalk to create leaping leprechaun tracks on the floor. I usually make a fist and paint the side of my hand, because it ends up looking like a tiny foot. All I need to do is add 5 dots for toes!
Green Light, Green Light: Swap out your classic bulbs for some green ones. That will have the kids roaring with laughter when they turn on the light and the room becomes green!
Green Ice Cubes: Freeze some green water then go get yourself some ice cubes and exclaim, "Who did this to my ice!"
Green Silly String: Have the kids discover that the leprechauns schemed while they were away. Use Green Silly String to mess up a room after they've just left.
Leprechaun Chemistry Trick: Place some green food coloring in a container and cover it completely with baking soda. Leave a container of vinegar next to it with a note that says, "Pour me in. From, A Leprechaun." That will change the baking soda into a green bubbly reaction! For full instructions see my post on Fizzy Colors Science.
Gather the Green: Take a bunch of green items from around the house or classroom and put them in a pile with a little sign that says "Conquered in the name of St. Patrick!"
Trash the room: This is quite possibly what makes St. Patrick's Day the most fun day of the whole school year. During recess, my fellow teachers and I TRASH the room. For real! (See the proof below!) We knock over every single chair, throw toys on the ground, dump out the bins. The kids are SHOCKED when they return from recess to witness the aftermath of Leprechaun shenanigans. The sweetest part is how they all want to clean it up right away, taking such pride in caring for their classroom!
Rainbow leads here: Use chalk to draw a large rainbow leading up to the classroom door if your classroom door is outside. If inside, use huge strips of paper.
Magic Leprechaun Notes: Leave a note from a leprechaun with a funny message or a silly riddle in their lunchbox or backpack.
Map to the end of the rainbow: Create a map of the school with a hidden treat. Have the kids read the map to find a hidden treasure of your choice. Even something as small as a sticker is always a huge hit.
Marker Mayhem: Remove all the green markers, crayons, and colored pencils from their stashes. When they go to color stuff, they'll go wild at the darn little Leprechauns who stole them on St. Patrick's Day.
Leprechaun’s Messy Desk: Rearrange a few items on the students' desks and replace their usual supplies with green or shamrock-themed items (like pencils, erasers, or notebooks). When the kids come in, they'll be puzzled by the leprechaun's playful rearrangement and enjoy discovering their new green gear!
Gold Coin Math Estimation: Leave a clear jar full of gold coins from the leprechauns. Have the kids estimate how many gold coins are inside. The winner gets to keep or distribute the coins to the class.
Roll up your sleeves: Cover your arms in St. Patrick's Day themed tattoos, then cover them up with a long shirt. Roll up your sleeves and act so surprised to find out that leprechauns must have covered your arms with their tattoos while you were sleeping!
String us together: With a super long piece of golden or green yarn, connect all the kids' chairs so that every chair is connected to another in the classroom. This is the perfect quick alternative to trashing the classroom. It is something you can easily undo by cutting the string while still bringing the festivity into the classroom.
Tiny Green Toilets: Place a few green food coloring drops in the toilet bowl. Who knew leprechauns were into eco-friendly pranks?
Shamrock Confetti: Fill their shoes with shamrock-shaped confetti. Nothing like a little surprise to start the day!
St. Patrick’s Day Jokes: Write leprechaun-themed jokes and hide them in their pockets or lunchboxes.
Leprechaun Hair Dye: Temporarily dye their hair green with a safe, washable green hairspray. Watch their eyes widen as they see their new “lucky” look!
Sensory Sink: Last year, I ran a marathon on St. Patrick's Day, so I woke up at 2:30am needing some last minute leprechaun tricks at home. This an the toilet one is my go to, because it's so easy; just add some green food coloring to water in the sink and put some floating green objects in. Viola!
St. Patrick's Day Green Bath: Fill the bathtub with green bath toys or floating shamrocks. A few drops of green food coloring in the bath always makes for some laughs! Just don't use too much or it can stain.
Shamrock Toilet Paper: Swap out the regular toilet paper with a hilarious Shamrock patterned roll, made just for silly leprechaun tricks!
Bedroom Balloons: I've done this for my kids' birthdays as well as St. Patrick's Day. Blow up some green, gold, and white balloons and then sneak the balloons into your child's room when they are asleep. They are super wowed when they wake up to a room full of balloons!
Paper Streamer Blockade: Use green or rainbow crepe paper streamers to "block" your kids' closed door. When they open their door, they're sure to explode with laughter before satisfyingly ripping through the crepe paper.
Green Milk Surprise: Add a few drops of green food coloring to their milk and watch their eyes widen as they take their first sip.
Green Food Day: Serve all their meals and snacks with a green twist. Green eggs, green pancakes, green spaghetti—anything goes!
Grow a Jelly Bean: On the day before St. Patrick's day, have children plant a jelly bean. At night, replace it with a jelly belly lollipop. This is a kindergarten tradition at our school.
Gold Coin Hunt: Scatter chocolate gold coins around the house or classroom for a little treasure hunt.
Lucky Charms Swap: Swap their usual cereal with Lucky Charms and watch them wonder why their breakfast has magically changed. Just place the plastic bag of Lucky Charms inside of another cereal's box and blame it on the leprechauns!
Green Tongue: Serve green popsicles or candies that will leave a green tint on their tongues.
One Green Egg: Wipe green food coloring around one egg in the egg carton and write a silly message from the leprechaun. Who will volunteer to eat that green egg?
Blended Leprechaun Juice: Serve green juice and replace the label with one that says "Blended Leprechaun Juice."
Leprechaun Lunch: Pack a completely green lunch. Clearly those sneaky leprechauns swapped out their regular food with all green food! Love that idea from the Stuffedsuitcase.com
So, whether you’re a parent or a teacher, get ready to sprinkle some leprechaun magic and mischief into your St. Patrick’s Day. With this huge list of last minute leprechaun tricks up your sleeve, you’re guaranteed to create a day full of laughter and surprises. Happy pranking! 🍀✨
I think I traumatized one of my kindergarteners with my lesson plan on how to make a leprechaun trap.
Even 10 years later, his mother and I recount how she had to convince him leprechauns were not real, but he swore that they came to school and messed up our classroom. I'm so sorry, Dude! Just trying to do some engaging hands-on learning with the kiddos.
So be warned, that it might be a good idea to tell your child that maybe after all, it was you who tripped the trap after all.
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Before making the trap, you'll going to want to have a plan. What materials will you want to use? What object might lure a leprechaun into your trap?
This project involves so much learning from science to STEM to writing. In the first steps, kids will plan and prepare to build their leprechaun trap using my FREE How I'll Make My Leprechaun Trap printable.
Download the printable and you're ready to make an easy leprechaun trap in minutes. If you don't have all the supplies listed on the left hand side, tell your child/students what you do have. You might want to show them the materials but not let them use them just yet.
Using the printable, have them draw a plan of what their trap will look like. What will they use to lure the leprechaun into the trap? Hopefully, something shiny!
For older kids who can already write, have them label their leprechaun trap plans so that the reader will know what materials they plan to use for which parts.
Ask your child/students, how will the leprechaun know to come to the trap. Will there be any signage to entice them to come inside?
Now let's build it!
While watching the kids build their leprechaun traps you might feel inclined to jump in and say, "Oh what about this? It would be cool if we..." but I encourage you to stop yourself and let this experiment be completely child led.
In the planning stages, we have provided the questions to provoke problem solving and the materials to inspire. This is the kids' part to be the engineers! Giving our children full creative freedom is hard, but it means that what they create is 100% their own.
Whenever I feel the urge to place value on my children's creation or make suggestions, I try to use the technique called "Say what you see." I just narrate what is happening. So instead of saying, "I love that little door you made," I might say, "You made a door out of paper." Sometimes I just try to step away and see what they'll come up with completely on their own!
These easy to make leprechaun traps will surely bring some excitement to your home or classroom. So now what do you do with them on St. Patrick's day?
The day before St. Patrick's day, I have the kids lay their traps wherever they think the leprechauns will be searching for gold and shiny goods. I make sure that they have their lure inside the trap.
Once I'm alone, I go and snag the gold coins/lures out of each trap.
This is the kicker, the piece de resistance, that probably really made my little student frightened: the footprints. Are you unsure of how to make little leprechaun footprints around your trap?
Easy! Get some green paint. Make a fist and paint the bottom side of your fist before gently stamping it across the surface of your choosing. Then dip your pointing finger in the green paint and create little toes over the foot print. Tada, adorable leprechaun footprints, and they couldn't have been made by an adults large feet!
So yeah, it's a good prank, but if your child or students are iffy on the subject, show them how you did it!!!
The kids will flip when they see the leprechauns have sprung their traps without being caught. This is usually when I leave a little note from the leprechauns saying something like, "You almost got me!" or "Try again next year!" If you're looking for some more St. Patricks Day STEM activities, especially for the classroom, check out The Stem Laboratory!
