Mama Diaries

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Leprechaun Trap

"Mama," my ten-year-old son said.  "I have to make a go kart."

"What?" I said.  I wondered why in the world he'd need one of those.

"I have a school project.  I have to make playground equipment or a leprechaun trap which uses six simple machines."

I thought about that.  "Dude.  I don't think a go kart qualifies as playground equipment, or a leprechaun trap.  And besides, how are you going to build a go kart?"

He shrugged.  "I thought you'd help."

Uh huh.  A science project for parents.

"You're going to do this.  And it's not going to be a go kart or some other monstrosity that we can't transport to school."

After a lot of talking about it, we finally settled on the Leprechaun trap.  Of course, he didn't know where to begin.  So I scribbled some ideas, using the six simple machines.  Then I hauled up the Legos and blocks.  "Here you go, kid.  Figure it out."

He did. With a little help from his Lego Master Mama.

Here's what we have:

  And here's how it works:  Leprechaun sees the sign, "Free Gold," and runs up the wedge ramp.  Then he climbs the incline plane and falls into the gold bin with a trapdoor floor.  If he's not stupid enough to fall into the gold bin, he'll see the see-saw lever reaching up to the hanging basket of gold (which of course is a pulley system using a wheel and axle and screw). His weight will cause the see-saw to tip, sending him into a hole, where he will be trapped.  Until the backhoe digs him out.

What do you think?  I'm fully expecting to catch a leprechaun. (I'll let you know if we do.)    

35 comments:

  1. they make them build traps in school?

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    1. Yes, they do. As long as it's not a parent trap, we're okay! ;0)

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  2. But it is great that he needs to build stuff and learn along the way.

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    1. It is a cool project. And there are no directions for how to do it, so you really have to use your imagination.

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  3. haha that will work. Be sure and share the pot of gold

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    1. Of course. All my blog buddies get a piece of the pot!

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  4. That's one of the top three best leprechaun traps I've ever seen.

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    1. When you put two creative minds together, you come up with something pretty cool! I'll tell my boy you approve of his trap. ;0)

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  5. That's an awesome trap. I wish I'd learned how to build traps in school. Instead, I learned stupid, useless things like math. And math.

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    1. Ha! Yeah. Leprechaun traps are really useful. I'm sure it's going to make us rich! ;0)

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  6. Cool Leprechaun trap. Thanks for sharing the picture of it.

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    1. You're welcome. I'm still kind of amazed it turned out so good.

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  7. I guess I'll have to hand it to the teacher for some creative ways to get the kids thinking. Or is this part of the Common Core curriculum?

    Worthy trap though I'd say.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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    1. Honestly, I don't know. It's probably a Common Core thing. But it's a cool way for kids to learn about simple machines.

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  8. Nice trap! What's funny is that a couple of years ago I tried telling my nephews how to set up a Leprechaun trap on St. Patrick's Day. They tried it, but no Leprechaun. Maybe yours will work. ;)

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  9. Lol! A go kart is always the preferred choice for building with boys. Good job on problem solving and taking a plan and making it work. Tell him it's a nice job. Except the part about actually catching a Leprechaun.

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

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    1. We got the book, Dangerous Book for Boys. There's a plan for how to build a go-kart in it. Perhaps one day we'll try tackling that project.

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  10. Woohoo! It looks like you'll catch a lot of leprechauns with that!

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  11. Awesome! Let me know if it works. I've got a ton of Lego to use to make my own. :)

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    1. Definitely keep those. And blocks and Tinker toys if you have them. You never know how they might be used for school projects.

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  12. It is wonderful that you not only amuse your son, but encourage his curiosity

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    1. I think it's important to encourage a kid's imagination. Creativity is a good thing!

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  13. So wonderfully creative. I can never remember our homework being such fun

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    1. I never did anything like this, either. It was always the diorama,poster or report thing.

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  14. Sounds like a tough but interesting project. Glad you two had fun working on it together. :)
    ~Jess

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