How do you catch a Leprechaun?

With today being St. Patrick's Day, my kids came home from school filled with tales of leprechauns, pots of gold, and rainbows. Carter came looking for a "big bowl" ..."Why?"...."to build a trap and catch a leprechaun!" He enlisted Lady and Jace as his helpers, and they went to work. After nearly 2 hours of work, they called for me to come see.

There is nearly an entire roll of tape holding those straws together, and keeping them stuck to the pan. The plan of catching goes something like this:
1. Arrange straws to prop up pan
2. Run string to various toys/books that will fall and wake you up (to see the leprechaun)

3. Tie string to vial with real gold (Carter panned for this gold during summer camp).

4. If falling books aren't loud enough to alert you, falling Legos will do the trick!

5. Hopefully, you will catch a leprechaun. If not, he should at least leave $5 in the trap to let you know he was there.

They were all so proud of their handiwork. In fact, it was the best stay-in-bed trick ever! I reminded them that if they didn't go right to sleep, they would scare the leprechaun away. They were asleep within minutes...too bad we can't catch leprechauns every night. And although they will not likely find a real little man in their trap, I suspect they will find a shamrock shaped note left by their friendly neighborhood leprechaun, Lenny.