Leprechaun Shakes {& Trapping a Leprechaun!}

March 6, 2013
It may be hard to trap a leprechaun, but it's easy to whip up Leprechaun Shakes!  Made with vanilla ice cream and lemon-lime soda, enjoy these tasty little shakes for one super easy St. Patrick's Day treat.

Easy Leprechaun Shakes Image


It's that time of year!  Yes, the time of year when rascally little leprechauns make their appearances in all the craziest of places.  And last year ... we had one turn up in my 1st grade classroom!  Can you believe it?

He turned over the chairs in our classroom.  Threw little shamrocks all over everything.  Left us silly notes on the whiteboard.  Dropped his hat one day ... and his sock the next.  He even tried to steal our pot of gold, leaving our carpet littered with little gold pieces ... how dare he.

So, of course, my students decided we needed to try to trap him - I mean, he did try to take our gold and all.  And here's how we decided to do it.

Now, I didn't really plan to design and make a leprechaun trap with my students - it just sort of evolved.  And sometimes those are the absolute best classroom activities.

Leprechaun Shakes are a fun and easy St. Patrick's Day treat kids can pretty much make themselves.

On the first day our leprechaun made his presence known, a couple of students said, "Hey!  Maybe we can catch him!"  After a bit of "classroom chatter," it came to light that the class thought it would be a great idea to build a trap.  So I just very off-handedly said, "That might be a good idea.  If anyone thinks of a good way to design a leprechaun trap, we could consider doing that."

The next morning, one of my sweet little 1st grade boys walked in with a drawing of a leprechaun trap he had designed.  And it was a good design drawing, complete with arrows of how things would work and everything!  (I think we may have a future engineer in the works.)

As a teacher, how could I possibly resist that?

So, as a class, we set about building the leprechaun trap this creative little boy had designed.  He shared his design drawing with the class, and then we brainstormed a list of the things we would need ... a box, a stick, some string, and some leprechaun bait.  We decided a gold coin would be great bait.  I brought all the stuff in the next day and a-building we went.

Here's how our leprechaun trap turned out:

Leprechaun Trap Image

Looks pretty good, don't you think?

And I loved that we didn't just slap it together willy-nilly ... No, not this class.  I had brought in several sticks as possibilities.  And they didn't just want to pick one.  Nope.  They wanted to test each one to see which one would work best.  Love it.

It may be hard to trap a leprechaun, but it's easy to whip up Leprechaun Shakes!  Enjoy these tasty little shakes for an easy St. Patrick's Day treat.

When the trap didn't catch the leprechaun on the first day, conversations ensued about how they could make their great trap even better.  So sweet!

It was decided that the things Mr. Leprechaun dropped in our room needed to be added to the trap as more bait ...

First Grade Leprechaun Trap Image

... along with a rainbow that lead straight to the pot of gold we assumed he was after.  Clever.

How to Make a Leprechaun Trap Image

Alas, we did not succeed in trapping the leprechaun.

But we did succeed in gobbling up some delicious shakes that he inspired.  Leprechaun Shakes, to be exact.

Leprechaun Shakes are a fun and easy St. Patrick's Day treat kids can pretty much make themselves.  All you do is scoop some vanilla ice cream into a glass and squeeze in about 4 drops or so of green food coloring ...

How to Make Leprechaun Shakes Image

Top off the glass with some lemon-lime flavored soda (that part should probably be done by an adult).

Then stir away and watch the color transform into beautiful swirls of greens!

Green Shake for St. Patrick's Day Image

Top the shake with a squirt of whipped cream and a few rainbow sprinkles ... and, voila! ... you've got Leprechaun shakes to enjoy.  So simple and so delicious.

Green Leprechaun Shakes with Rainbow Sprinkles Image

We decided ours were especially great when enjoyed with a St. Patrick's Day word search.

Enjoying a Leprechaun Shake for St. Patrick's Day Image
Little Hand Holding a Leprechaun Shake Image

So whip up one of these super easy Leprechaun Shakes to enjoy yourself for St. Patrick's Day.  

Just don't wait until you catch your leprechaun!  You might be waiting a long time ... because, as we found out, leprechauns are sure tricky little things.

Check out these other perfect for St. Patrick's Day drinks:

Easy St. Patrick's Day Milkshake Image
Thank you for stopping by The Kitchen is My Playground. We'd love to have you back soon!


Leprechaun drinks, St. Patrick's Day drinks, kid drinks, green drinks, green milkshake
Beverages
American
Yield: 1 shake

Leprechaun Shakes

Leprechaun Shakes

It may be hard to trap a leprechaun, but it's easy to whip up Leprechaun Shakes! Enjoy these tasty little shakes for an easy St. Patrick's Day treat.
prep time: 5 Mcook time: total time: 5 M

ingredients:

For Each Shake:
  • 2 or 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
  • 4 or 5 drops of green food coloring
  • rainbow sprinkles
  • lemon-lime soda (such as Sprite or 7-Up)
  • whipped cream

instructions:

How to make Leprechaun Shakes

  1. Place ice cream in a tall glass. Drip the green food coloring drops on top of the ice cream.
  2. Slowly pour soda into the glass until the glass is nearly full. Sprinkle on a few rainbow sprinkles, and stir until the shake turns green.
  3. Top with a squirt or dollop of whipped cream and additional rainbow sprinkles, if desired.
Created using The Recipes Generator


You might also enjoy these other fun-for-St.-Patrick's-Day dishes:

New England Boiled Dinner {Corned Beef, Cabbage & Root Vegetables}





Super EASY Leprechaun Shakes ~ Made with vanilla ice cream and lemon-lime soda, enjoy these tasty little shakes for one super easy St. Patrick's Day treat!  www.thekitchenismyplayground.com

This post is linked with Weekend Potluck.

19 comments

  1. What a neat thing to do with your class! The kids must have loved it :) These shakes caught the eye of my son who now wants me to make them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kids sure did love them, Liz ... and I think your son would, too! Enjoy.

      Delete
  2. That is so cute! I'm sure your class just loved the activities. These shakes look so good. I'm definitely a sucker for shamrock shakes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. THis is such a great idea- my kids like spinach in their smoothies- so I may add that instead of the dye, but green, nonetheless- and so fun!!! If you'd like to share this on the photo friday blog hop, you'd be more than welcome to!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What fun activities, thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What the world needs is more of the trust, joy, and wonder of first graders! :) My dearest friend taught 1st grade for 35 years for just that reason (and the love too). What a yummy sprinkled treat. Lucky group of kids to have you as their teacher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, thank you so much for your sweet, kind words, Wendy. As I say to my students, you're going to make me cry in a good way!

      Delete
  6. My kids would love these! I would love for you to share this & any other recipes over at my link party: http://dessertnowdinnerlater.blogspot.com/2013/03/sweet-savory-saturdays-3.html
    Hope to see you there!
    ~Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Found you through Under the Table and Dreaming's link party. Love this idea and that it is easy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Another fun looking shake you've made there. What child or gown-up couldn't love it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. How fun! I love first graders and miss teaching them often. I always did a leprechaun visit with my students too and had them discover rainbow cupcakes. How fun! :) You are a Featured Favorite this week on Saturday Show & Tell on Cheerios and Lattes! We loved having you join us last week and can't wait to see what you have been up to this week! Have a great weekend!
    Mackenzie :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. The shake looks yummy and fun. I like the Leprechaun trap too. Thanks for sharing on Sunday's Best.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a fun shake! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party. Hope you've had a good week and we see you at tomorrow's party.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tracey, our ADRIENNE loves your post and we will feature it in the next Blogger's Pit Stop.
    Kathleen

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your classroom sounds like a delightful place to be! I like that the shakes are so easy and so yummy too. Thanks for sharing it this week. #HomeMattersParty

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a FUN story, Tracey! We will be featuring you starting Wednesday at the Creative Crafts Linky Party! Pinned and shared
    Creatively, Beth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for hosting and thank you for the feature. I love seeing the children's faces after the room was visited by a leprechaun.

      Delete

I love your comments ~ I read and appreciate each and every one. When you choose to leave a comment, we collect and display your name, as provided by you. Clicking "publish" to submit your comment indicates your explicit consent for name collection. If you click the "notify me" checkbox {which is optional}, your e-mail is also collected. Clicking the "notify me" checkbox indicates your explicit consent for e-mail collection. Thank you so much for visiting The Kitchen is My Playground!

Blog Design: Tracimichele.com. Powered by Blogger.