A Leprechaun is an Irish "elf" that looks like a tiny, old man in a top hat and red beard.
They are tricky fellows and enjoy playing pranks on unsuspecting people. Leprechauns are shoemakers (also called cobblers). Curiously enough, they only make one type of shoe, as opposed to pairs. You can tell a Leprechaun is near by the sound of his hammer tapping.

Every Leprechaun has a pot of gold that they bury it in a secret place that only they can reach and some say that they hide it at the end of the rainbow. One thing is for sure though, if you catch a Leprechaun he will lead you to his pot of gold and give it to you as a bribe to let him go. Leprechauns are tricky little fellows, so you must be creative when deciding on a way to try to catch one. You can either try to lure one to you and grab him, or you can try building a Leprechaun trap to capture one in.

If you are lucky enough to capture a Leprechaun, your work is not yet finished, for you cannot take your eyes of the Leprechaun for even a second or he will disappear.

It is very difficult to catch Leprechaun but you can sure have fun trying. The first thing you need to do is build a trap. There is no right or wrong way to build a Leprechaun trap.

You can make your trap using a net, boxes, a clean can, or anything else you can think of (paper towel rolls, empty containers, tin foil, paper, string or yarn, sandwich bags, etc); or even an old shoe since, afterall, they are said to be cobblers. You have to be very creative to catch a Leprechaun.

Once you build your trap, you will need to add bait to lure the Leprechaun in. Since Leprechauns are very greedy, one of the best things you can use for bait are coins. If you don't want to use real coins, you can easily substitute candy coins or make your own gold coins by cutting circles out of cardboard and painting them gold.

Some other ideas for your trap are:

Using rainbows in the decorations.

Coloring your trap green and decorating it with green items (stickers, glitter, etc)

Four leaf clovers are said to attact Leprechauns.

Make sure your trap is well camouflaged - make it blend into its surroundings.

No two traps should be alike or the Leprechaun will get suspicious and leave.

You can tell that a Leprechaun is about by the tell-tale sign of his glittery gold footprints, so watch for them!

Have fun, and remember - be creative!

Submitted by Hafapea