S is for Snake

This week, we learnt about the letter 'S' and the snake. We read 'The Splendid Spotted Snake' written by Betty Ann Schwartz. This book is beautifully designed and features a snake made from a colorful, polka-dotted, cloth ribbon. As the story progresses, the ribbon gets longer and longer...as does the spotted snake. This story helps children learn about snakes and their changing bodies as well as helping them to consolidate their knowledge of a variety of different colours.

To compliment this story, the children were able to make their own colourful snake using their fingerprints with finger paint. To create this artwork, they were asked to make a snake 'habitat' on their paper using jumbo crayons and then use 2-3 different colours of paint to make the body of their snake. The children glued on joggle eyes and drew a forked tongue using a permanent marker. As with previous weeks, the adults were shown a teacher made example to assist them. After searching for a snake song, 'I've been swallowed by a Boa Constrictor' was the most appropriate choice.

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’s up to my toe, he’s up to my toe.

Oh gee, oh gee, he’s up to my knee, he’s up to my knee.

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

Oh heck, oh heck, he’s up to my neck, he’s up to my neck.

Oh dread, oh dread, he’s up to my schlurp….

The children and adults were then able to meet 'Jake' the Corn Snake, a non-venomous, North-American species that is a part of our Education collection of snakes. As these snakes are handled on a regular basis, the children were able to touch its body and feel the scales under their fingers, quite a unique experience for a small child!