Ages 6-7
Snakes in the Grass
Skill Builders:
-Cutting
-Gluing
-Texture
-Shape
-Line
-Pattern
-Weaving
Supply List:
-9 by 12 White Paper
-Green Paint
-plastic fork
-Paintbrush
-Pencil
-Ruler
-Eraser
-Scissors
-Glue Stick
-Glue Bottle
-Colored Paper
-Googly Eyes
-Crayons
-Placement (Optional but highly recommended)
-Apron (Optional)
Alternative Supply List:
-If you don’t have green paint then use a green piece of paper or a white piece of
paper colored green. If you are not using paint then you do not need a paintbrush,
plastic fork, placement, or apron.
-If you do not have a plastic fork you can use a regular fork, a pencil, a toothpick,
popsicle stick.
-If you do not have white paper you can use other paper.
-If you don’t have a paintbrush use your fingers!
-If you don’t have a pencil use a different writing material
-If you don’t have a ruler “eyeball it”
-If you don’t have scissors then rip
-If you don’t have a glue stick or glue bottle use the glue you do have.
-If you don’t have colored paper then color white paper, use a magazine, or other
paper product
-If you don’t have googly eyes draw eyes with a coloring material (I did!)
-If you don’t have crayons then use another coloring material such as markers,
colored pencils, etc.
Overview:
During this project your child will engage in a weaving project where they will get a chance to explore elements and principles of design including line, shape, pattern, and texture.
Project Directions:
Step One:
If you do not have green paint skip step one. Put down a placemat and put your apron on (if desired). Paint an entire 9 by 12 inch paper with green paint. While the paint is still wet take a plastic fork and draw lines through the paint. If the paint is drying quickly, paint ⅓ or ½ of the paper, add the lines, then paint the next section and add the lines. If you make a mistake paint over it and try again. Once done put this aside to dry.
Step Two:
Draw a wavy shape on a colored piece of paper. If you are having trouble, start with one wavy line then make a second wavy line next to the first line. Both lines should have similar waves. Once both lines are drawn then connect the lines and you have a wavy shape. Draw two to four wavy shapes. They can be the same or different colors. These wavy shapes are snakes!
Step Three:
Cut out your snakes and draw patterns on their bodies. A pattern is a repeating shape, line, or design.
Step Four:
Glue one googly eye on the head of each snake with a glue bottle. Remember you are looking at the side of the snake so you wouldn’t see both eyes. If you don’t have googly eyes (like me) then you can draw on the eyes with crayons. I used a black crayon to draw a dot and then a white crayon to add a white circle around the black dot.
Step Five:
Cut out snake tongues.
Step Six:
Glue the snake tongues onto the back of the snake with a glue stick.
Step Seven:
If you did step one make sure the paper you painted is dry before you start this step. If you did not paint a paper you can use a green paper or color a white paper green. Flip your paper onto the back. Line up your ruler with the long edge of the paper and draw a line against the edge of the ruler. Hold the ruler nice and steady. You made a horizontal line, a side to side line.
Additional Learning Opportunity:
Can you see and feel the bumps on the paper? This is called texture! Texture is something you can feel. If you did not do step one look at my example and think about how my paper would feel.
Let’s have a texture scavenger hunt:
Find something:
-soft
-hard
-fuzzy
-slimy
-rough
-smooth
-sticky
-mushy
For an added challenge draw the textures you find!
Step Eight:
Line up your ruler with the short edge of the paper. Draw a line against the edge of the ruler, stop once you get to the horizontal line. Then line your ruler up with the line you just made and draw a line against the edge of the ruler and stop once you get to the horizontal line. Repeat this step all the way across the page. These are vertical lines, up and down lines.
Step Nine:
If you end up with a small section cut it off.
Step Ten:
Draw “V’s” at the end of the paper opposite from the horizontal line. Try to make the “V’s” different heights for added interest.
Step Eleven:
Cut along the “V’s” and vertical lines but don’t go past the horizontal line! This is the grass!
Step Twelve:
Turn your paper back over. Weave one snake into the grass, they are hiding! You can weave the snake into the grass by making the snake go over and under every blade of grass. Start the first snake toward the bottom of the weaving.
Step Thirteen:
Pick up the blades of grass over the snake and add a drop of liquid glue. Turn the grass paper over and repeat.
Step Fourteen:
Repeat steps twelve and thirteen until all your snakes are in the grass. Start at the bottom of the weaving and work your way up to the top as you add your snakes.
