let's catch a leprechaun... a wee story & a bit of mischief, too!
- Mar 9
- 13 min read
Updated: Mar 25
Monday, March 9, 2026
As the calendar flips toward the greenest day of the year,
it’s time to embrace a little magic
and perhaps a whole lot of shenanigans!
This month, we are diving headfirst into
Our Monthly Story Time
with a tale filled with anticipation, clever tricks and the age old question…
Is it possible to outsmart a clever fairy shoemaker?
Many of you know by now, that both of us are
not only GRANDS to our beloved Littles,
we are also retired kindergarten teachers and that old saying,
once a teacher, always a teacher
definitely holds true,
especially when it comes to sharing a love of reading
with everyone we meet!
That’s why this series on the blog is so dear to our hearts!
Since the beginning of this school year,
we’ve shared a book each month that we simply love!
We’ve also shared reading strategies that we’ve used over the years
that could easily be adapted to your homes!
And, of course, we’ve included some of our favorite activities
that support each story in a variety of ways!
You can find our past stories and ideas by clicking the following links:
Back to School – The Kissing Hand
September – Ten Apples Up on Top
October – Go Away, Big Green Monster
November – Turkey Trouble
December – The Gingerbread Man
January – Sneezy the Snowman
February – Goldilocks and the Three Bears
With our March selection, we’re bringing a little extra sparkle to storytime
and perhaps a bit of mischief, too!
Are you ready for story #8?
Our Choice for March’s Story Time is….
This month’s story, written by Natasha Wing and illustrated by Amy Wummer, sets the stage for St. Patrick’s Day, filling the air with giggles and the promise of playful shenanigans! As we turn each page, imaginations begin to whirl and a question quickly follows: could we really catch a leprechaun?
With this delightful story in hand and a little creativity from our Littles,
the hunt for that tricky fellow is officially on!
Littles always enjoy hearing about others who have been “naughty” because they, of course, try soooo hard to do what is expected of them! There is a certain thrill in seeing someone else who is doing what they secretly wish to do - play tricks and make a mess of everything! St. Patrick’s Day provides a great opportunity to expand on this and let those leprechauns do their thing!
Today, Laurie is sharing the story she’s always used to set the stage
for this idea of tricking a leprechaun!
One of the things I’ve loved most about St. Patrick’s Day,
as a mom and as a teacher,
is the wonder and excitement Littles have about those tricky little guys
we call leprechauns!
This story is the perfect way to introduce this idea to our Littles!
The story is based on the same meter of the well known holiday story,
Twas the Night Before Christmas.
Read through the story - at least once - enjoying the twists and turns of the plot
as you giggle together!
Then, go back and reread it to your Little once again,
asking a question or two every few pages.
Asking Questions… Why It’s Important!
When you ask questions, you are checking to see if your Little has understood what you are reading to them, which is a very important step in becoming a life long reader! Checking for comprehension is the bridge between a child simply "hearing" the words and actually "living" the story. It transforms a passive listener into an active participant! And, in a high-energy book like The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day, it helps ground the excitement so the "shenanigans" don't overshadow what’s happening in the story. Understanding why the characters are setting traps makes the ultimate payoff much more satisfying for Littles! Below are two specific ways to ask questions while having a wee bit of fun at the same time!
We love the illustrations in this book!
Such clever ideas for setting a trap
just in case, that is, someone wanted to catch their very own leprechaun!
Before you know it, you and your Littles will be asking a set of new questions…
What can WE build a trap with?
How can WE lure the leprechauns to our trap
Where is the best place to put OUR trap?
How can WE keep the leprechaun from escaping!
BUT BEFORE WE GET TO ANY MISCHIEF…
We’ve included a link to the Youtube version of The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day…
That way, if you don’t have access to the actual book
(which is always our preference, of course)
you can still introduce your Little(s) to this delightful story and enjoy it together!
And, just in case you are looking for more leprechaun lore,
here’s a sampling of our favorites to check out at the library or on Youtube!
As kindergarten teachers, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the classroom was always a high-energy whirlwind! The pure magic found in “catching” a leprechaun” made every second of prep worth it. However, between scrubbing green glitter off desks and managing the sheer adrenaline of twenty plus tiny detectives on a treasure hunt, it was a day that left most of us teachers feeling like we’d run a marathon across a very long rainbow!
Yep! That’s Laura during her last year of teaching…
celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with her distance learning kindergartners!
Just a bit of tech magic to make things interesting!
These days, we’re taking the ideas once used in our classrooms
and adapting them to fun - and simple - ways to celebrate with our Littles!
Let the shenanigans begin!
Setting a Leprechaun Trap!
According to legend, these clever little visitors slip into homes
the night before St. Patrick’s Day,
scurrying to find every last bit of gold to fill their pots
before vanishing back to find the end of the rainbow.
Building a leprechaun trap is about so much more than just “catching” a tiny make-believe visitor - it’s a fantastic way to turn a story into a hand-on learning adventure! Think of the experience as a creative engineering challenge - whether your Little is a preschooler (and needs your help) OR a school-ager (who may only look to you for guidance). Take your lead from your Littles!
While this project can be adapted to be successful with most Littles, older ones will definitely be able to take their imagination and creativity to a higher level as they try to solve this most mischievous problem! In fact, if you have school-age Littles, we would really encourage them to draw/write a plan before they start building their traps. This is an important step in doing any STEM based project (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and would be a great experience for them!
Here’s a free planning sheet, available on TPT (Teacher Pay Teachers).
Once you create a free account, you can download the worksheet.
If you need more info on how to use this resource,
read this post where we give you all the details you’ll need.
Of course - your Little can simply talk through the plan
or write it down on a blank piece of paper, too!
The goal is to THINK about the process ahead of time!
Encourage Littles to search the house looking for trap supplies! Below are some of our favorite materials to use:
THE BASE (The “House”) - empty shoe boxes, oatmeal canisters, tissue boxes, blocks, Legos, plastic containers
THE LURES (The “Bait”) - yellow construction paper (cut into circles to look like “gold” coins), anything green (their favorite color), Skittles or Lucky Charms (leprechauns have a sweet tooth), shiny foil or glitter (a final magic touch to catch a leprechaun’s eye)
THE ENGINEERING (The “Trap”) - popsicle sticks (perfect for building tin ladders or “keep out” signs), empty toilet paper rolls (think “tunnels” or “lookouts”), pipe cleaners (easy to bend), masking tape or glue (to hold it all together)
In the classroom, Laurie recalls nothing more fun than sitting in her rocking chair on St. Patrick’s Day, watching eager kindergartners scurry around the room, finding items to make a strong durable trap. The students had the choice of working alone or with a partner.
As Laurie tells it…
Later in the day, we would leave the room for Specials (phy-ed or music perhaps) or head to lunch and, beforehand, I would announce to my students that I had a meeting to go to (that was my way of getting them off track, so they wouldn't connect me to this next part)... I would then go back into my room and destroy all the traps and leave a note that said “Ha, Ha, good try - you can’t catch me! Now your room’s a mess.” with just enough gold glitter thrown around to drive the custodians crazy!
A short while later, the kids would return and walk into the classroom and stare - going round and round the room.
Eventually someone would see the note I’d left, and they would get very indignant and announce, “the leprechaun can’t do this to our room, we’ll show them!” and then all the kids proceeded to clean up the entire room, working together as a community. This was probably the best lesson I (whoops - the leprechauns) could teach my students!
The funny thing is that every time there was a mess in our room after that, the kids would solemnly shake their heads, say “it was the leprechauns” and then clean it up!
These days as a GRAND…
As a GRAND, you might want to plan a sleepover
or send your Littles home with the trap you’ve made during a day spent together,
with the promise from them that they’ll report back to you on how things go!
Distant GRANDS - you can send a care package to Littles!
Send a package that contains the story, a few trap supplies and directions for your Littles!
Then, have a FaceTime visit to introduce the project
and another one when your little detective is ready to give you a report!
Long ago, when Laurie wore her MOM hat,
here’s how things played out!
When my own kids were littles, they would build their leprechaun traps with materials they found around the house. Then, before we knew it, it was bed time. The traps had been set and then we all needed to be patient and wait until morning. We always wondered - would we outsmart that mischievous leprechaun?
As a mom, I would “trip” the trap and leave something from the leprechaun for my own Littles to find. A sparkly note, money, Lucky Charms cereal or chocolate coins were always good options!
Over the years, our leprechaun traps have always been a fun way
of sharing an imaginative adventure and ‘what-if’ wonder with our Littles!
Leprechaun Bait!
Earlier in this post,
we suggested that adding some “bait” to your leprechaun trap might be a good idea,
and we provided some suggestions!
Well, here's a new one!
You’ve probably seen a recipe like this before - it’s a yummy one!
INGREDIENTS (I made ½ a recipe)
4 cups Chex Mix
4 cups Lucky Charms
2 cups small pretzels
½ cup mini marshmallows (or extra Lucky Charms marshmallows)”
½ cup green M & M’s
1 package white chocolate coating pieces
DIRECTIONS
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Microwave the coating pieces for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat if needed in 10 second increments and stir each time. Pour the melted white chocolate over the dry ingredients and gently stir. Pour mixture onto a parchment lined pan. Cool.
We don’t know any leprechauns who can resist this bait!
A Leprechaun Stakeout!!
Collect all your Littles’ GREEN toys, gather a GREEN blanket or two
and build a “surprise fort” for them!
When your Littles arrive at your house,
play some Irish music to welcome them and to lead them to
this special stakeout waiting for them!
As you can see, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy…
a piano bench draped in a green cloth turned into a magical setting!
Your Littles will love their Leprechaun Stakeout,
especially the surprise element of it all!
A Few More Mischievous Ideas!
We’ve got a few more SIMPLE ideas up our sleeves.
Pick and choose which ones make sense to you!
Each will add a bit of shenanigans to your time together!
Turn It Green!
Your Littles will be so surprised if the milk is GREEN when poured from the carton on St. Patrick’s Day morning! Those sneaky leprechauns!
Search for Coins!
If you have been collecting loose change all year, this is a great time for the leprechauns to hide them around your house or to leave a trail for your Littles to follow. Encourage sorting, coin recognition and adding skills as your Littles gather their coins!
Digging for a Rainbow!
Turn a plain carton of yogurt into a magical treat! All you need is a container of vanilla yogurt, some green food colorings and a few Lucky Charms marshmallows.
Stir a few drops of the food coloring into the yogurt to mix thoroughly and then add a few Lucky Charms marshmallows. You can even hide these and have your Littles use their spoons (or, dare we say, their fingers) to find the hiding rainbows! For older Littles, make it even more fun by hiding a plastic gold coin or two in their yogurt!
Look what we found!
Have you seen these in the grocery stores?
We bought a pouch of this seasonal item and have been using it this month…
In our Leprechaun Bait recipe, adding a few to our Littles’ yogurt
or in baked goods, too!
A fun purchase!
The Tiny Shoe Tumble!
Those leprechauns strike again! Line up several pairs of shoes in a long, winding "conga line" through the hallway, as if a tiny shoemaker was trying them all on for size. Or hide one shoe from each pair and send your Little in search of all the missing shoes.
Dance a Jig!
Find a fun tune on Spotify or YouTube and get some Irish exercise!
Watch these little leprechauns dance their jig on Instagram here!
Leprechaun Lookers!
A few years ago, we made Leprechaun Lookers out of two toilet paper tubes. Our Littles loved hunting for leprechauns with these special binoculars!
Simply take two cardboard tubes, decorate and glue them together and punch two holes in one end to make a neck strap. There you have it - a pair of magic binoculars or, as we like to call them, Leprechaun Lookers!
Tiny Footprints Everywhere!
Okay! Laura did this one to herself! While Laurie was messing up her classroom while her students were at Specials or lunch, Laura was using that time on St. Patrick’s Day to leave little footprints everywhere in her classroom. (She simply dipped the side of her hand in green washable paint - that had been mixed with a small amount of dish soap for easy clean up later). Tiny footprints were left everywhere! When the kindergartners returned to class, it looked like those mischievous leprechauns had gotten into the green paint and danced a jig on the tables and chairs and across the floor! Those leprechauns... so mischievous!
A good laugh was had by all and, of course, then we had to write about the leprechauns' adventures in our room.. And, thankfully, everyone chipped in to help Mrs. P clean up the mess! Yay for teamwork!
In both of our kindergarten classrooms,
those mischievous little leprechauns certainly left their mark!
The excitement from these visits fueled our stories and sparked "what-if" wonder
for the rest of the school year.
These days, we simply get to have a little bit of wee fun with our own Littles
and that’s NO shenanigans!
We’d love to hear about any shenanigans you and your own Littles get into
when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around!
Have you ever built a Leprechaun Trap and, if so, please share the details!
Feel free to comment at the end of this post!
THANK YOU!
We’ll be back later this week with a new post...
one that will tempt your tastebuds!
We hope you’ll join us then!
Don’t forget that you can always find us
We’d love it if you stopped by to check out our latest posts!
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(We only contact you via email when we publish a new post!)
Even though leprechauns aren’t real, they’re still wonderfully fun to celebrate with Littles because they invite imagination, play, and a bit of harmless mischief. Stories about leprechauns turn an ordinary day into a tiny adventure — building traps, searching for “gold,” and wondering if a clever little visitor might make an overnight stop! These playful experiences spark creativity, laughter, and shared moments between grown-ups and the Littles in our lives. . And in the end, it isn’t really about catching a leprechaun… It’s about the joy, wonder, and sweet shenanigans that make childhood (and storytime) feel a little more magical.
After all…
Whether or not a leprechaun is ever caught,
the real treasure is the joy of sharing a story, dreaming up a bit of mischief,
and watching a Little’s imagination come to life.
It’s those moments of creating a bit of “shenanigans” together
that our hearts hold on to forever!
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING SITES FOR FEATURING OUR POST!
Love Your Creativity from Life & Linda
Busy Monday from A Pinch of Joy
A Morning Cup of Joe from The Cottage Market
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What fun your students and now Littles have every holiday! I was listening to NPR the other day, and they were talking about pediatricians are now doing reading readiness evals on three year olds. I think it was just basic...how to hold a book, recognizing the words go from one direction to the other. Then, and this was the really cool part, they gave parents a little kit to help them reinforce those early reading skills! I started reading to my kids and grands when they were babies and didn't stop until they told me they were done (insert sad face)! I love all these fun ideas! Gosh, I wish you'd had this blog while I was still teaching b…
Looks like so much fun. The littles are enjoying all of the activities. I am happy to feature your wee post at Love Your Creativity.
I msut ask my grandson what he gets up to St patricks day as he lives in Northern Ireland and is in pre school, I'm sure they'll ahve lots planned. Not soemthing we take part in in England, but I'll be sure to wear something green to school on the 17th as a nod to the day. Thanks for joining in with #pocolo
I love all the little ideas! I can just imagine how excited the Littles get with all the leprechaun shenanigans. We’ve actually never made a leprechaun trap before, but after reading this, I think we should give it a go… if only to try that yummy leprechaun bait! Hope you're both having a lovely weekend. 💕
What a fun way to celebrate St Patrick's Day! When I lived in NYC I attended many St Paddy's Day parades and loved hearing the bagpipes playing. I was also able one year to visit St Patrick's grave in Ireland -- that was very special!