Suggested Grades

K-3

Objective

Students will use their knowledge of force and motion to make working leprechaun traps.

Materials

• junk (paper towel rolls, empty containers, tin foil, little boxes various shapes and sizes, scrap paper, string, sandwich bags, etc.)
• tape, glue, stapler
• markers

Method

• About a week before doing this activity send a note home requesting junk. You’ll be amazed at what parents send over. The more the better!
• Have students dig through all the junk and decide what they will need for their leprechaun trap.
• Students build their traps. (I’d give them a half a day to do this, and be prepared for a giant mess)
• Permit students to look through the junk as they need more items.
• About half way through the time that you give your students, gather back as a class and discuss the strategies that some students are using, ie: If the leprechaun comes in here…this will happen…
  Point out and try to encourage the use of force and motion.
• Ask students to set their traps right before they go home.
• Lock the doors when all of them have left, set each trap off and deposit a chocolate gold coin under it!