The Leprechaun is Coming!

This week was amazing.  I had no idea how much fun it was going to be having the Leprechaun visit our classroom.  I used ideas from Pinterest and combined them to create my own version of St. Patrick's Day fun.  I used ideas from Homemaking Fun (http://partiesandholidays.blogspot.com/) and HoJo's Teaching Adventures (http://hojosteacherstore.blogspot.com/).  First we read St. Patrick's day stories and I got them hyped up about Leprechauns.  Then we made traps and hid them in the room.

Since this was a spur of the moment activity (because March has flown by and I have not done a good job of really looking at the actual date lately) we used cherry tomato containers for the base of our traps.  I then got out as much green art supplies as possible (stickers, foam pieces, yarn, construction paper, bubble wrap,  and pipe cleaners) to decorate them.

First attempt to catch the Leprechaun
 before adding the glitter.

After they made their traps I read more books about Leprechauns and legends.   We then decided that we needed to add fruit loops (rainbow colors) and glitter around our traps to attract the Leprechaun.

The students also had to write How to Catch a Leprechaun in three steps courtesy of TPT How to Catch a Leprechaun.  Then the real fun began!  I had a teaching partner tap on the outside of our classroom and leave gold whenever she did it.  The students absolutely loved it.  They would run out of the class and all they would fine is the gold.  This got them engaged.  When we left for specials, that pesky little Leprechaun would mess up our room and leave gold candies and treats for us.  He even moved  the traps around a bit and left notes behind.

You almost caught me
but as you can see
I got away
HEHEHE!

So now I cannot wait for Monday.  The room will be a mess and the kiddos will go on a wild chase to find the basket of treats left by the Leprechaun (Leprechaun Hunt Clues).  I think I am more excited than they are.