Looking for an easy-to-make Leprechaun Trap?  Why not make this easy to assemble Magic Money Tree.  Leprechauns can’t resist free gold – especially money that grows on trees.  When the Leprechaun climbs the ladder and grabs the coin, it releases the top of the bottle that works as an elevator sinking to the bottom of the tree – capturing the Leprechaun!  Have more St. Patrick's Day fun and make our Mini Leprechaun craft.    

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What you'll need:

• Construction Paper or Card Stock: Brown and green

• Tape

• Black Marker

• White glue

• Gold Glitter

• Scissors and Craft knife (have an adult help with the craft knife)

• Plastic bottle without ridges

• 3 brown Pipe cleaners

• One plastic gold coin & one piece of plain copy or binder paper

• Free Gold & Treetop Pattern Printout

• 12” piece of string or ribbon

How to make it:

1. Find a plastic water bottle or drink bottle without ridges on the sides – A Smart Water brand water bottle works well.  Have an adult carefully cut off the top of the water bottle using the craft knife approximately 1 ½ inches below the cap. Leave the cap on the bottle.  Dry out the bottle. 

2. Unscrew the cap of the bottle & insert one end of your string through the top opening of the bottle.  Cover the end of the string protruding from the top of the water bottle with the cap and screw the cap back on securing the string to the top of the water bottle with the bulk of the string on the inside side of the water bottle top.

3. Take brown construction paper and wrap it around the outside of the bottle section without the lid.  This will be the tree trunk.  Secure with tape in the back.  Use your black marker to write, Magic Money Tree on the tree trunk.

4. Use a piece of green construction paper and make the top of the tree.  Depending on the size of the bottle you choose you may have to make your treetop smaller or larger than the example pattern.   For example, you may want a larger treetop if you are using a liter soda bottle or a smaller treetop if you are using a water bottle.

5. Using white glue, make several round circles approximately the size of gold coins on the green treetop shape and sprinkle them in gold glitter.  Lift your green treetop and shake off excess glitter setting it aside to dry.  Once the treetop is dry, hold your treetop shape up to the sides of the bottle and make a mark on your tree shape where the 2 sides of the bottle edges are.  Use scissors to make a 1/2” slit into the green tree top shape on these marks.    Attach the “Free Gold sign to the treetop with a glue stick. 

6. Attach the treetop to the tree trunk by fitting the green treetop shape into the back edge of the tree truck sliding the tree shape between the brown paper of the trunk and the bottle opening.  Fit the two slits you make into the treetop into the top of the trunk & secure with tape.  Add a piece of tape on the lip of the bottle opening and on the backside of the treetop as well.

7. To make the decoy coin that will trap the leprechaun, take a 2 x 4” strip of the plain binder or copy paper and fold it in half lengthwise. Tape one of the narrow ends to your plastic coin on one side.  Next, accordions fold the remaining paper 3 times.  If you do not have a gold plastic coin, you can make one by taking a piece of cardstock,

8. To set the trap:  take your water bottle top half that you cut off and, leaving the cap on, set it upside down inside the water bottle along the top edge.  Take your accordion-folded paper and coin and wedge the paper portion between the lip of the inside of the bottle and the upside-down bottle top.  When the leprechaun grabs the coin, the top of the bottle will fall down into the bottle and Leprechaun will be trapped inside the bottle.

9. Finishing touches:  To make the ladder so the Leprechaun can climb to the top of the tree, take two pipe cleaners, and lay them parallel to each other.  Take the third pipe cleaner and cut it into 1 ½ inch pieces.  These smaller pieces will be the rungs of the ladder.  Attach the rungs of the ladder, evenly spacing them between the two longer pipe cleaners, twisting them to attach.  Curve one end of the ladder to hook onto the bottle edge. 

Now your trap is set and you are ready to trap even the smartest Leprechaun.  No Leprechaun can resist the magic money tree!