The Mom I Want to Be

A fun, eco-friendly activity to reinforce what children have learned about snakes and to build team-work.

 

Reinforce study about snakes.

Learn to identify patterns.

Use recycled materials to create a creative piece of artwork.

Develop a sense of team work in building something together.

Use fine motor skills to practice tying knots or twist pipe cleaners.

 

Have children collect used newspapers.

You will also need recycled craft paper rolls, glue, paint, scissors, wiggly eyes, and string or pipe cleaners.

 

 

Review unit on snakes. Point out key facts about snakes such as how they eat, how they move, and especially what kind of skin they have, etc. Let children look through books or pictures of different kinds of snakes and point out differences and similarities between the scale patterns and colors. Cut the craft paper rolls into 2” pieces. Cut the collected newspaper into 2” wide strips and long enough to wrap around the tube. Have the children wrap the newspaper strips around the tubes and glue into place. Have the children paint over the strips in different colors, allowing some of the newsprint to show through the paint, giving it the illusion of “scales.” These are the snake “sections.” Hole-punch holes in each side of the tube, two holes at each end, across from each other. Have the children tie the painted sections together by using string laced through the punched holes (or twist pipe cleaners if the children are not able to make knots). The snake can be as long or as short as the children want. Let them decide if they want to alternate certain colors, or make any other patterns with the colored sections. When the snakes are complete, have the children decide which end is the head and stick a pair of wiggly eyes (or draw the eyes with marker) on the head. Slightly flatten the tail end so it comes to a point.

 

Let the children move the snake in different ways that snakes move – slithering, inching, gliding, jumping, etc. The snake is great for hanging around the classroom as decoration or for using as a measurement tool.