Yesterday, Travis got to see snakes at a nearby nature preserve. So of course we had to bring the fun home today!

To make your “snake,” all you need is a pair of old knee-high nylons and yesterday’s newspaper. Parents, you’re going to largely have to put this craft together for your little one, as little arms can’t reach all the way to the toe of the stocking. But Travis had a blast helping to crumple up the newspaper:

He was eager to help stuff the newspaper inside until we had a long snake. To finish, simply tie a tight knot at the end.

Before playing with the snakes, Travis had fun selecting a few pieces from our felt collection to glue on as eyes and mouths. After that, the sky’s the limit! What didn’t we do with our snakes?

We “slithered” them:

We crawled them along the windowsill:

We kicked them:

We shook them (the newspaper makes a fantastic approximation of a rattlesnake’s rattle):

We also recreated a jungle play scene from Daniel Tiger (Season 1, Episode 2), jumping from bean bag to bean bag through snake-infested territory. Travis got quite a kick out of this activity.

And what jungle is complete without base camp? Ours even had a special guest appearance by a black panther:

How did your child play with the snakes? Please share in comments below!