S-s-s-snakes Alive!

Our week was alive with snakes!

Our sensory bins were filled with snakes of all colors and sizes. We sorted and matched them. Snakes hatch from eggs so we also had colored, plastic eggs added to the assortment.

We talked about what we already knew about snakes and then read a non-fiction book to reinforce the things we knew and learn new things about snakes. 

"I Spy Snakes" taught us names of some of the more popular snakes as we matched cards to the pictures on the table. 

Playing the game "Hiss", 

was about building snakes by matching the colors on their bodies. 

We each had  a rope to manipulate like a snake. They helped us learn how snakes move. We coiled, wiggled, and shook them.

Knowing how snakes move, we got down on the floor and slithered like snakes. We even smelled like snakes do- with our tongues!

Snake Alley Band is such a fun book with jazz-type sound effects. after reading it, we used "snakes" for painting as we listened to some jazz music.

 

We talked about "constrictors" and how they  kill their prey by squeezing it. We read The Greedy Python. He was so greedy, he ate himself!

The parachute became a great big snake as we played (over and over and over again:)and sang to the song, "Boa Constrictor".

I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,

a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor,

I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,

and I don’t like it very much.

Oh, no. Oh, no. He swallowed my toes.

Oh gee, oh gee. He’s up to my knees.

Oh my, oh my. He’s swallowed my thighs.

Oh fiddle, oh fiddle. He’s up to my middle.

Oh bleck, oh bleck. He’s reached my neck,

Oh dread, oh dread. He’s swallowed my head.

I’ve been swallowed by a boa constrictor,

a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor.

I’ve been swallowed by a boa constrictor,

and I don’t like it very much!
(We actually liked it a lot!)

We read another book about a python who didn't want to change and grow as all pythons do. Verdi 

teaches that just because our physical appearance may change as we grow, we can still be the same inside. We all fell in love with Verdi.

Small Green Snake by Libba Moore Gray tells of a little snake who, despite his mother's warnings, takes off on an adventure on the other side of the garden wall.

We rolled playdough in our hands and on the table to create our own small, green snakes- long ones, short ones, fat ones, skinny ones...

For our snack, we used bread dough to make snakes.  We enjoyed painting them with bright colors of edible paint.

Talking about the colors and patterns on snake bodies and reading a fun book, Hide and Snake

had us creating patterns on snakes of our own. 

We used beads to create patterns on pipe cleaners.

We also painted on spiral-cut paper plates with dot markers for some snakes that hang to show off their patterned scales.