We like to buy gently used books from thrift stores, and lately my oldest son has wanted to get every snake book we come across! We sit and read the books over and over. We’ve even gone to a live snake show to indulge his desire to know more about the slithery creatures! While I am not much of a craft person (I much prefer process art), I really wanted to give my oldest a chance to study the snake pictures and create one of his favorites. My first intention was to make this Salt Dough Snake Craft from Frugal Fun for Boys, but I didn’t have salt dough on hand. What I did have were paper towel tubes and I knew I could use them to make a fun snake craft! (bonus: we sealed some uncooked rice inside to make them rattlesnakes!)
Supplies:
- Paper towel tubes
- paint and paint brushes
- Hot glue gun
- Small red strip of paper for the tongue
- Googly eyes
- Uncooked rice
- Non-fiction snake book
Since I would be using hot glue gun, I prepared the snake myself for safety reasons. To make the snake, I just glued the ends of the tubes closed (making sure to seal the tongue out of one end and adding a tablespoon of rice as well). Hot glue dries very fast, so the craft was ready to paint in less than a minute 🙂
You can have your kids choose whether they want to create a specific snake, or make one from their own imagination. We did a little of both!
My boys could barely wait for the paint to dry to read their snake book with their new props in hand! For snakes, I think they actually turned out pretty cute!
Ways to use this craft:
You can obviously use this craft for any preschool unit on snakes or dangerous animals, but it can also work for S is for snake week, even elementary kids could enjoy doing this craft (perhaps as part of a research report on a specific snake). After the snakes are completed, they can be used to start a discussion on the anatomy of a snake, colors of a snake (bright colors cautioning they may be poisonous), and a study of how snakes move. You can even incorporate gross motor skills by challenging students to move like a snake!
What other snake activities/extensions can you think of? Let me know in the comments below!
