Leprechaun Trap and Coins

thingiverse

Each November kindergarten classrooms are plagued with playful mischief caused by those meddlesome wee people from the mystical land of Scotland - Fairies! They sneak into our classrooms causing no end of harmless mayhem, but this year that all changes! Despite many years of failed attempts to capture the troublemakers (and their treasures!), this year will be different thanks to the magical power of 3-D printing! How I Designed This I created the example trap on Tinkercad, but with the luck of the fairies, I'm sure you'll find the design tool that's right for you. Leprechaun Traps: #MakerEd Challenge Objectives: Students will explore basic design and engineering principles while designing a fairy trap (or traps) for the classroom. Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of 3-D modeling and desktop fabrication. Audiences: This lesson is intended for kindergarten or first grade, but I can also see this becoming an assignment for older students to design fairy traps for lower grade classrooms in the school or community. Preparation: A variety of literature exists on fairies and their trickiness, so read up ahead of time with your students and encourage them to be creative when it comes time to design a trap. Steps: Guide students to brainstorm good fairy bait (shiny, sparkly trinkets) and how best to capture the old elf. Ideas on design may vary, but again, after a decade of fairy hunting with 5-year-olds, I'm willing to bet a few gold coins that more than one student will suggest some type of inverted box, held up with a stick, attached to a string. Design the trap whole group using Tinkercad, utilizing student suggestions. Set trap(s) on, or near, the first day of spring and wait. Invariably something distracts me and we all rush out of the classroom, only to find a trail of glitter leading to a special note and small prize. Lo and behold, when we return to the classroom our trap has been tripped, the treasure is gone, and our only treasure is a classroom of laughter and smiles. Aww, cute! Hey, why does the school secretary now have glitter on her clothes…? Results: This activity, although a bit chaotic, leads to a variety of writing activities, literacy interest, thematic math centers, and some very sparkly art projects.