How To Make Tiny Leprechaun Doors That Open and Close

If you thought the only holiday to have tiny doors that reveal cute surprises is Christmas, you'd be wrong.

Mischievous little leprechauns have doors too, and this St. Patrick's Day, opening one of them is the quickest way to a pot of gold.

No more rainbow chasing, climbing to the top and then sliding down into a pot full of hard coins. Which, let's be honest, as fun as it sounds, it probably really hurts. 

Let's get started!

What you’ll need

• colourful paper
• markers
• pencil
• scissors
• glue
• ruler
• masking tape or sticky tack

How it's made

Fold a piece of colourful paper in half and use a pencil to plan your door.

You can draw a miniature door or a door that takes up the entire folded page. No matter the size and design you choose, plan your door so it’s butting up against the folded edge of the paper. It should look something like this:

Once you’re happy with the design, use markers to highlight your details. We used black marker to draw the door’s casing and boards.

Next, use a pair of scissors to cut around two sides of the door to separate it from its casing (see above).

Leave one edge of the door attached to function as the hinges. If you accidentally cut around all three sides of the door, don’t panic! Mistakes are part of the problem-solving fun. Just use a bit of tape on the back side to reattach it.

Now use glue to attach the door’s casing to the backing paper. On the back side of your paper, add just a bit of glue along the top and two sides of the casing, then fold your paper shut again. In essence, your paper is glued shut, but the door itself is still able to open and close like in the picture above.

For these doors to really pop, it's time to make some hardware. I decided to make handles and hinges, but you can make all sorts of things like locks and keys, door knockers, kick plates and peep holes!

To make a handle, cut two rectangles — a thicker rectangle as the faceplate for the handle and a longer, thinner one for the handle itself. Fold tabs at the end of your handle to make it 3-D, then fold a second set of tabs you can use to glue the handle to the faceplate.

To make hinges, cut a rectangular shape, a T-shape or a butterfly shape, then use marker to pick out tiny details you want to add, like tiny screws. (Check out the photo above to see all the kinds of door hardware I made for inspiration!) I'd save this part for adult hands, because cutting tiny shapes can be a challenge for tiny tots.

Attach your hardware with a bit of glue and use markers and cut paper to decorate your doors however you like. This door has a cut paper horseshoe hanging upward to collect lots of good luck!

Decide how you want to play with your leprechaun doors. If you want to make a lot of doors and hide them around your home for a St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt, fill them with fun things to discover like pots of gold, four leaf clovers and leprechauns peeking out to say hello.

You can also put a silly joke or riddle inside of the doors to discover.

Some joke and riddle options:

• Question: What do you call a potato at a St. Patrick’s Day parade? Answer: A spec-TATER!
• Riddle: What kind of bow can’t be tied? Answer: A rain-BOW!

Use masking tape or sticky tack to attach your leprechaun doors to baseboards, book cases, in closets or other hidey-places.

If your kids are more into the making than the hide-and-seek aspect, have fun creating and adding lots of tiny things to establish your leprechaun doors. Add a welcome mat, a potted plant, a mailbox and some house numbers to set the scene. Or maybe your kids would like to imagine and decorate the incredible scene that lays behind the door — a rainbow slide water park or a fantastical bakery that makes shamrock-shaped cookies!

Let your kids lead, and just watch what wild ideas they come up with!