It’s St. Patrick’s Day eve. The day when children and adults alike put the finishing touches on their leprechaun traps.
Catching a leprechaun is tricky business. They are very sneaky and don’t play fair, so no one has ever caught a leprechaun.
Yet.
My boys and I build a leprechaun trap every year to try and catch these dastardly creatures.
In building a leprechaun trap, you need to start with bait. Lucky Charms cereal is always good, or gold pennies or gold water. Rainbows and anything shiny are also a good draw. Make sure your trap is rigged to come down fast on the little guys.
If you are lucky, the leprechaun will leave behind green snow or eggs or even worms. If you are off the charts lucky, you will have the little devil inside your trap come St. Patrick’s Day morning.
Next to Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day is a favorite holiday of mine. From the first year the leprechauns turned our water green, I have worked hard to uncover the secrets of the leprechauns.
My crack team of Leprechaun Specialists have discovered how the sneaky little guys turn water and snow green, lay eggs and uncover hidden rainbows.
The leprechaun science doesn’t end there. Leprechauns maybe small, but they eat large sandwiches. The secret is in an inflatable eight-foot sandwich bag that is blown up with only one breath. They also make jewelry out of leprechaun beads that change color in the sunlight.
Don’t forget to build your leprechaun trap this year and fish for leprechauns using green worms.
We never miss an opportunity to teach a little science… even on St. Patrick’s Day. From Leprechaun traps, to green water, to Leprechaun eggs, we know how to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Spangler Science offices… and trust that none of us will ever forget the day the toilet and faucet water turned green. Sometimes your creativity spikes and you find gold (pun intended) when you wrap your mind around a specific theme. So, here are some of our favorite tips and tricks for infusing a little science and a lot of fun into St. Patrick’s Day.
Here are just a few ideas to get your green juices flowing. If you already have science staples like Instant Snow polymer, True Colors tablets, UV Color Changing Beads or just some green food coloring, you’re well on your way to creating very cool Irish science experience.
Leprechauns Strike – Green Water – It’s not uncommon for those little Leprechauns to turn everything green… even the water coming out of your faucet. Here’s how it works.
Green Flowers – It’s as simple as adding a little green food coloring to the water,
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I will never forget St. Patrick's Day 2006. This morning I woke to the screams of our almost four year old twins, Mark and Scott.
"Daddy, wake up! Look at what those Leprechauns did," yelled Scott. I jumped out of bed to find the twins picking up green and gold coins that peppered the living room floor. Traces of gold dust covered the counter top, and a glass of water that was left next to the sink was now green. By this time, our seven year old, Jack, was scouring the house in search of more evidence of Leprechauns.
"Mom! Dad! Bring the boys here. Look at what I found in the toilet," screamed Jack.
You guessed it… the toilet water was green. This was sufficient evidence for the twins that our home had been visited by Leprechauns – they took the bait hook, line and sinker. As I glanced over at Jack, I could see his wheels were spinning. While he never said anything out loud, his facial expression told me that he wasn't buying this whole Leprechaun thing.
"What do you think about those Leprechauns?" I asked. "Oh, it's pretty cool," Jack replied. Then he whispered to me, "Daddy… I kind of know that Mommy just colored the water with food coloring."
For the first time as a parent I felt his disappointment. He wanted so badly to believe, but his ability to think and reason was getting in the way of him believing in Leprechauns. My little boy was growing up – figuring things out – becoming wise to the ways of the world. In the mean time, Jack's brothers were caught up in the frenzy, searching each toilet and sink for more green water. In a split second I had to respond.
Here are just a few ideas to get your green juices flowing. If you already have science staples like 
I will never forget St. Patrick's Day 2006. This morning I woke to the screams of our almost four year old twins, Mark and Scott.
