Rattlesnake Craft for Kids

When you live in rattlesnake country, you learn early on how to recognize the characteristics of a venomous snake. In California, the only venomous snakes we have are rattlers, so the most obvious sign that a snake is venomous here is a rattle. That said, rattles can break off. Or, in the case of a baby, there's only a single non-rattly rattle at the end of their tiny tails. Of course, the intact, adult-sized rattle end of a snake can be hidden from your view. When you're looking at the business end of a snake, a wide triangular head is a good indication that you should get away. 

I’ve seen (and made) many snake crafts during my time as a craft blogger, but never one that is specifically a rattlesnake. Since we're about to welcome in the Year of the Snake, I thought it would be the perfect time to add a rattlesnake to my collection of reptile crafts. Interestingly, both Arizona and West Virginia have named a rattlesnake species as its official State Reptile. Though much more common in the Southwest, rattlesnakes are found throughout the continental United States, so go ahead and make this no matter where you live. Affiliate links below. 

Rattlesnake Craft for Kids

Materials: 

• chipboard
• scissors
• craft glue
• colored pencil (brown, black)
• inks (earth tones: forest green, brown, black, cream)
• blending brushes

Steps: 

Starting at the center of the chipboard, draw a spiral that is the size you want your finished rattlesnake to be. Draw a triangle-shaped head at the end of the spiral. (Just like for this craft, but with a different head shape.)

Cut out the snake’s head, then continue following the spiral with your scissors. When you get to the inside of the spiral, taper the end. This is where you'll be gluing the rattles. 

Use the scraps to make rattles. Cut a tapered piece of chipboard. The longer you cut it, the more rattles you can have. (A rattlesnake typically has anywhere from 1-13 rattles, depending on how many times its shed and whether any have broken off.) Snip the piece you cut at 1/2" intervals, then glue it back together, overlapping each rattle on top of the previous one.

Use the scraps to cut a forked tongue and two eyes (which aren't in the photo below).  

Use a brown colored pencil to draw scales on the snake. No need to be fancy - just diagonal lines in opposite directions in order to give the illusion of scales. (Notice that I updated my rattle?)

Put the snake on a piece of newspaper or other protective surface, then add ink. I used large blending brushes to give the whole snake a brown and green background, then darkened the tail. Then I used the mini blending brushes to add the stripes. I used the timber rattlesnake as inspiration, but you can customize yours however you want. 

Glue the tongue beneath the head, the eyes on the head, and the rattle on the end of the tail. Bend the chipboard gently so that the rattle is raised up a bit. Use a black colored pencil to add pupils to the eyes and two nostrils on either side of the forked tongue.  

Pasta Shovel-Nosed Snake

I wasn't thrilled with how my pasta version of a coral snake turned out, but am much happier with this shovel-nosed snake, also made from dried pasta. I swapped mezzi rigatoni for penne, which made a huge difference. Photographing it in the backyard instead of on a piece of construction paper helps, too. 

My pasta version of the shovel-nosed snake is actually a little longer than the real thing. A shovel-nosed snake (which is completely harmless to humans) typically reaches a maximum length of 11-17 inches. 

 

Pasta Shovel-Nosed Snake

Materials:

• approx. 20 pieces of mezzi ritagoni
• glue gun
• acrylic paint

Steps: 

Put a thin line of hot glue just along the inner edge of a piece of mezzi rigatoni, then press a second piece to it. Keep going until you are happy with the length of the snake.

Lifting the snake as little as possible, paint every other piece of rigatoni yellow. Then paint the remaining pieces black. 

When the paint is dry, turn the snake upside down. Reinforce all the joints with a thin line of hot glue (this won't show from the top). Turn your snake back over. That's all there is to it!

Dried Pasta Coral Snake

Remember how I said I hadn't shared a single dried pasta craft in 11+ years of blogging? Time to change that! But what to make? When I design crafts, I try to fill gaps. The world doesn't need more tutorials for macaroni necklaces or pasta snowflakes. We don't need another explanation of how to dye pasta. We do need more realistic reptile crafts. So I decided to try to make a banded snake using a different method for coloring pasta than either dip-to-dye or brushing on acrylic paint. 

After a lot of experimentation, I came up with a pasta version of an Eastern Coral Snake. 

 

The first step was picking my pasta. I wanted my snake to have realistic curves, so elbow macaroni was out because the bends are too sharp. My next thought was rigatoni. Maybe I could cook the dried pasta, shape it with a gentle curve, then let it dry that way? We were out of rigatoni, so I used penne. In retrospect, I should have waited for rigatoni. Since penne is cut on the bias, I really struggled with gluing the pieces together without leaving gaps. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

I boiled a bunch of penne, dried it off (not carefully enough, as it turns out) and put it on parchment paper. Then I dipped a wet paintbrush into food dye and painted the middle third of some penne. I made some black and some red. You can see some of the red ones in the bottom right where the dye ran up the ridges because I hadn't dried it off sufficiently. I gently bent about half of the pieces, hoping that when I left them to dry, they'd retain a gentle bend. Answer: not really. 

I cooked more penne and bent the warm pieces into demitasse cups. I left them to dry, hoping they'd retain the bends. Success!  

I painted the curved pieces with food dye, then used yellow food dye to color the ends. Then I did my best to fit the pieces together, the diagonal edges of the penne fighting me all the way. When I found an arrangement I liked, I glued it to a piece of background paper and added the label. (I'd thought about nestling it in a bed of tomato sauce instead of using glue on paper, because until I added glue, the pasta was edible... if cold and a bit crunchy.) Since making my snake, I've thought of a bunch of things I'd do differently if I made it again. I may or may not do some future experimentation for pasta snakes. 

One more thing I want to share: in researching coral snakes, I came across this interesting article about the famous rhyme. Since I'm not in the habit of touching snakes in the wild and I don't kill snakes, it doesn't really matter to me whether the rhyme holds true 100% of the time. 

Snake Doodle

I like snakes. I always have. 

For a number of reasons, I will never have a pet snake. The primary reason is that I can't deal with providing a pet snake with live mice, which I also like. I greatly prefer feeding our vegan pet. The second reason is that Steve would leave me. He does not like snakes. And since I like Steve more than I like snakes, I will never have a pet snake.

I will, however, continue to make snake art.

I was doodling mindlessly during a Zoom meeting. When the meeting ended, I realized I'd inadvertently doodled a bunch of snakes. 

So I decided to color them in. But rather than coloring randomly, I decided to do my best to color them realistically, using only species found in the US. I hadn't draw heads or tails (since I didn't realize I was doodling snakes) so I just focused on the patterns. I grabbed the fish box and the iPad and started researching, coloring as I went. 

As you can see in the photo, I used a scratch piece of paper to remind myself of the name of each species. Then when I was done coloring, I used the Sharpie to write the names along each snake. 

Another craft for my growing Reptiles and Amphibians page!

Sweet Strawberry Snakes

Care for a sssweet ssstrawberry sssnake? They're delissssious and ssso sssatisfying!

They're made from the same dough as Rose Rolls. Just follow the steps through dividing the dough into 18 pieces. 

Roll each piece into a long, thin rectangle. Spread a small amount of jam in the center, then roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Place the snake, seam side down, on a baking sheet. You can see from the picture that I didn't use a Silpat (affiliate link). I should have. Learn from my mistake. 

Cover the snakes loosely with a clean towel and let them rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.

When the snakes are completely cool, add a small amount of orange juice to powdered sugar to make a glaze. Place the wire rack back over the now-cool Silpat-covered pan and drizzle the glaze over the top of the snakes. You can leave the glaze clear (like the two snakes at the bottom of the photo) or add food color. I experimented with two different ways to get bands of color. For the red and grey snake, I coated it entirely in grey, let that set, then dripped red glaze on top to make the stripes. For the green and grey snake, I made grey bands then immediately added bands of green in between the grey. Both worked, but gave different looks. 

Did you notice my green-stained fingers above? Oops. 

When the glaze is completely dry, arrange the snakes on a platter to serve. The sweet bread dough with the strawberry filling and citrus glaze is irresisssssstible!

Ssssseriously delissssious. 

Crayon Melt Iguana

It's been a long time since I pulled out the warming tray to do crayon melts. It was the perfect medium for an iguana. Affiliate links below. 

Crayon Melt Iguana

Materials:

• warming tray
• white paper
• crayons
• microtip scissors
• craft glue

Steps:

Plug in the warming tray and put a sheet of paper on top. Fill the paper with the colors you want your iguana to be. I started with oranges and browns, then layered greens on top. I recommend removing the wrappers from the crayons and laying them on their sides for faster, more even coverage. 

When you are happy with your paper, remove it and unplug the warming tray. The wax will set almost immediately. I started by cutting out the body of the iguana from a solid green area. I saw a place where the colors came together to make a perfect eyeball, so I cut that section into a rough circle and placed it on the body so that I wouldn't lose track of it. (I cut it down to an oval later.) Then, I cut a the iguana's spines. As you can see, some of the green wax flaked off when I cut near the edge. I decided I liked the look because it gave a contrast to the green body. 

The legs were the trickiest part. I drew the legs on scraps of white paper, layered it on top of the waxy paper, and cut. If you aren't confident that your legs will fit, or if you want the legs to be cut from a certain area of the waxy paper, make a pattern first and trace. 

Cut the eye into an oval, then cut a similarly-sized oval for the subtympanic shield. Use a strong craft glue to attach all the pieces. 

As is always the case, I learned a lot about iguanas in the process of making this craft. I had no idea iguanas have a third eye, are excellent swimmers and divers, and can survive a 50-foot fall! Check out these other fun iguana facts. 

Paper Plate Garter Snake

I like snakes. More accurately, I like harmless snakes in nature where they belong. It's always a thrill to see a garter snake or a gopher snake in the backyard, where I know they are helping to keep the rodent population down. While technically it is a thrill to see a rattlesnake, I can live without ever having that thrill again. Fortunately, it is easy to tell the difference between dangerous and harmless snakes here in Northern California. As long as it doesn't have a triangular head and a rattle on its tail, it's welcome to visit my backyard. 

Today's project is a moveable garter snake, made from a paper plate. Both Massachusetts and Virginia have named the garter snake as their state reptile. Give this easy project a try! Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Garter Snake

Materials:

• paper plate
• scissors
• Folk Art Paint (Real Brown and Camel)
• retractable craft pick
• bronze mini brads
• brown enamel dots
• black Sharpie

Steps:

Cut the rim of the paper plate away from the center. Use the center to cut the snake's head. Cut the rim into four sections that are approximately the same size. 

Paint the head and each of the sections brown. When the paint is dry, add a Camel stripe down the center of each body section and along the edges. 

Line up two body parts so that they overlap slightly, use the craft pick to poke a hole, and connect the two pieces with a brad. Continue until all four body pieces are connected. Then connect the head to one end of the body. 

Use the scissors to round off the tail end of the snake. 

Draw a pupil on the enamel dots, then stick the dots to the snake's face. (I drew them vertical, but it appears they should be round. There is a lot of conflicting information about snake pupils.) Draw on two nostrils. 

I positioned my snake in the dirt to take photos. For a paper plate, I think it looks pretty convincing! 

Greater-Than Less-Than Craft Stick Alligator

Chances are, you were taught which way the greater-than and less-than symbols face by imagining them like an alligator's mouth. The hungry alligator wants to eat the larger number, so his mouth should open that direction. This craft stick alligator, complete with moveable jaws, is great fun to pair with a greater-than less-than math lesson. Affiliate links below.

Greater-Than Less-Than Craft Stick Alligator

Materials:

• 2 jumbo craft sticks
• Fiskars craft drill
• Folk Art paint (green)
• brad
• construction paper (green and white)
• scissors
• craft glue
• large googly eye
• black pen

Steps:

Drill holes in the craft sticks. I used my beloved Craft Drill; in a classroom setting, I'd probably pre-drill the holes. Or, I'd have a parent monitor a drilling station. 

Paint the sticks and the brad green. Set them aside to dry. 

Use scissors or a punch to cut a green circle. Then cut two rows of white teeth. 

When the paint is dry, use the brad to connect the two craft sticks. The brad should be tight, but no so tight that you can't open and close the jaws easily. 

Cut the green circle into two uneven parts. The larger will be the eye and the smaller is the nose. 

Glue both green pieces into place. Add the googly eye, then use the black pen to draw nostrils on the nose. Glue the teeth in place.  

Use the alligator to help you solve greater-than and less-than projects, or make it as part of a reptile study. The alligator is the State Reptile of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, so if you live there, that's another good reason to try this craft! 

Snake Pretzels

Know what's better than fresh, homemade soft pretzels? Not much! Homemade pretzels are so delicious. Most of the time, we shape soft pretzels into... well, pretzel shapes. Once, we turned them into candy canes. This time, snakes. 

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Snake Pretzels

                                     1 pkg yeast                                1.5 tsp. sugar

                                     1.5 c. water                               4 c. flour

                                     3/4 tsp. salt                               1 egg

                                     blue food color                           food markers (affiliate link)

Heat the water to approximately 110˚F and add the yeast, stirring until dissolved. Add salt, sugar, and flour, then stir to combine. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (approximately 10 minutes). Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a pencil-shaped roll,then place it on an ungreased pan, curving and overlapping it to make snake shapes.

Beat the egg, then add a small amount of blue food color. Use a food-safe paintbrush to paint the now-green egg mixture on the snakes. Sprinkle each lightly with salt (optional). Bake at 400˚F for 12 to 15 minutes.

When the snakes are cool, decorate them with edible markers.

Wouldn't these be fun for a reptile-themed party or something like that? As it is, they were fun alongside an ordinary meal in Casa deRosier. 

Reptile and Amphibian Crafts for Kids

I currently have two giveaways going on. If you haven't entered both, follow these links:

• Brightech Lamp Giveaway (ends March 17)
• Creativation VIP Swag Bag Hop (ends March 8)

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Given how many known species of reptiles (10,000+) and amphibians (7,000+) there are in the world, you'd think that it might have taken me quite awhile to catalog all of my reptile and amphibian craft tutorials. Nope. It took about one millionth of the time it took to complete the mammal page. Check out exactly how many reptile and amphibian crafts I've made over the years:

I obviously need to step up my game. What do you think my next reptile or amphibian craft should be?

Pipe Cleaner Snake

Last summer's Cub Scout Day Camp theme was Jungle Adventure. Steve and I alternated days as a leader and on one of my days, the boys made snakes from pipe cleaners to wear on their name badges. They enjoyed making them and happily put them on their name badges before we set off for a hike. Not five minutes had passed before I started hearing from various boys in our den that their snake had lost his eyes or tongue. Almost no one's snake survived our short hike, including Trevor's, leading me to believe the problem was with the adhesive and not with the boys.

For the last few months, I've been meaning to experiment with this craft to make a version that is more sturdy and just as cute. I finally did just that. Affiliate links below. 

 

Pipe Cleaner Snake

Materials:

• light and dark green pipe cleaners
• googly eyes
• red felt 
• microtip scissors
• craft glue (this Turbo Tacky is really strong and dries quickly)  

Steps: 

Twist the two pipe cleaners together to make the snake's stripes. Give an extra twist to the ends so that the pipe cleaners don't come apart. 

Bend about 1/2 inch of one end of the pipe cleaner under itself to start the head. Repeat. Give a slight twist so the face area is flat. 

Coil the remainder of the pipe cleaner to make the snake's body.

Snip a forked tongue from the red felt. Add a drop of glue to the tongue and push it between the coiled pipe cleaners to secure it in place.

Glue on the eyes.  

Allow the glue to dry completely before attempting a hike. Enjoy this easy, fun, and totally cute snake craft!