How to Catch a Leprechaun, by Adam Wallace is such a fun book to read during the month of March. It is a magical book that sparks students’ imagination on hOW they can engineer the perfect leprechaun trap! If you’ve never read the book, it is about a leprechaun who manages to escape numerous traps created by children.

I am so excited to share 10 activities for the book, How to Catch a Leprechaun, that I use in my classroom that go right along with this adorable book.

I use these How to Catch a Leprechaun activities as stations. My class and I have so much fun spending the entire day completing these activities. We read the book, eat a snack, and have a ton of fun with these stations and activities! The stations are engaging, fun, and full of literacy skills, math skills, and STEM skills! I love using these How to Catch a Leprechaun activities on St. Patrick’s Day! It is a great way to keep students engaged!

I use these stations in place of my literacy and math stations for the day. I put my students in groups of 5-6. They rotate through 5 stations during our literacy time and 5 stations during our math time. You could also do all 10 stations at the same time and put students in groups of 2-3. These activities can also be complete anytime through the week of St. Patrick’s Day!

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #1

How to Catch a Leprechaun Writing

Students will love writing how they would catch a leprechaun.

This How to Catch a Leprechaun activity is always one of my favorites! Students use their imagination and write and illustrate how they would try to catch a leprechaun. I print off a word bank with common words that my students might use in their writing. This is always so helpful! There are differentiated writing pages to meet all my student needs!

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #2

It’s a Trap!

Ideas, resources, and activities for How to Catch a Leprechaun!

Throughout the story the leprechaun escapes many traps! Students will zoom in on their favorite trap with this How to Catch a Leprechaun activity! I love seeing how my students illustrate their favorite trap!After they illustrate the trap, they will write a description of the trap and how the leprechaun escaped the trap. This would be a great activity to have students share with the rest of the class or create a class book.

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #3

Leprechaun’s Gold Coin Collection

This is a fun game that is sure to keep my students engaged! Students race around a game board trying to collect all 10 gold coins for their game board while solving addition and subtraction problems and trying to avoid leprechaun traps! Students begin at the start line and will pick a card. If the card has an addition or subtraction problem on it, they will solve it and spin the spinner using a paper clip and pencil and will move that many spaces. If the card has a trapped leprechaun on it, they lose their turn. When students land on a gold coin, they will stop and collect their coins and add them to their gold coin game board. The first player to reach the finish line with all 10 gold coins, wins! This How to Catch a Leprechaun activity will definitely be a class favorite!

A fun and engaging How to Catch a Leprechaun activity.

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #4

Follow the Rainbow

There’s always a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, right?! With this How to Catch a Leprechaun activity, students will solve addition and subtraction word problems. Once students have finished the word problem, they color in the box according to the color listed. The finished colors will create a rainbow! The word problems go right along with the adorable book! There are two differentiated options available, which makes it perfect for the meeting the needs of my students.

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #5

Leprechaun in the Classroom

What if a leprechaun made a visit to your classroom? I bet your students wonder the same thing! I will admit, I’m not always so excited to trash my room with green footprints, flipped chairs, and sprinkled shamrocks, but kids LOVE IT! I will also admit, I don’t always do this. There have been many times I didn’t do it and we still had one of the best days. Now, it’s time for students to imagine what it would be like if they peeked in their classroom and saw a leprechaun. What would they see? What would they hear? What would they hear? It is always so fun to hear what my students come up with.

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #6

Gold Coin Sight Words

This How to Catch a Leprechaun activity is great for sight word practice and easy to prep! I simply typed in the sight words I wanted my students to practice, printed the gold coins and leprechauns, and laminated for durability. To play this sight word game, I laid the gold coin sight words in a path on the table. Each student got a leprechaun. The students moved their leprechaun on the first sight word and said the word aloud. Then they wrote the sight word on their paper and colored the coin. Students repeated this process until all the sight words were finished!

This game can also be done on a larger scale by printing the larger gold coins. Instead of using leprechauns, students will walk along the gold coin path and say the words aloud. Then they will write their sight words as well!

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #7

Leprechaun Trap Treat

This How to Catch a Leprechaun activity is SO FUN and delicious! What is better than a STEM treat?! This treat requires few ingredients and is super simple to create! Although, I like to make this a true STEM challenge by providing my students with the ingredients and then letting them plan and design a leprechaun trap! Then they will write their own directions. You could also provide your students with the directions.

Leprechaun Trap Treat

Ingredients

1 full graham cracker
1 large marshmallow
1 pretzel stick
handful of Lucky Charms cereal

Directions

Place the pretzel stick in the marshmallow
Lean the graham cracker on the pretzel stick
Place a handful of Luck Charms cereal under the graham cracker

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #8

Shamrock Wishes

Are you feeling lucky? What would you wish for if a leprechaun granted you three wishes? My students feel extra lucky when they write about their three wishes they would ask for. This craftivity is super simple to prep and easy to put together. I quickly printed out the shamrocks and grabbed other pieces of paper (you could use white or colored paper), scissors and glue. First, students cut out the shamrock on the solid black line. Then, they put a little glue on the back of the shamrock in the center and glued it to the other piece of paper. Finally, they folded back the three leaves and wrote their three wishes underneath.

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #9

Rainbow STEM Challenge

Students will plan and create a rainbow using materials such as, Play Doh, pipe cleaners, and Fruit Loops cereal. This is a simple STEM project that is perfect for little learners!

How to Catch a Leprechaun Activity #10

Leprechaun Traps STEM Challenge

This is always a fun How to Catch a Leprechaun activity that is sure to get students’ imaginations running wild! You could easily supply students with basic craft supplies or have students bring some materials in. I like to send home a quick letter explaining what we are going to do and invite students to bring in supplies if they wish. Some students like to bring in bigger items, especially boxes. My students complete this activity is a group and then they share their design with the rest of the class.

I hope these activities are getting you excited for St. Patrick’s Day! I love providing my students with a fun filled day that still incorporates our math and literacy standards!