Recycled Snake Craft

Last week was spring break so I promised the kids a trip to "the big library." We lucked out because we just happened to go during the 1 hour that they had a craft room open! It was toward the end of the hour, so we had to carefully pick and choose how to spend our time. I pointed out that some of the other projects were ones we could easily do at home, but this one in particular intrigued me so I asked them to help me create it.

In just about 5 minutes, we ended up with this friendly blue snake made from recycled materials. I think it's fitting to share this clever craft idea now since today is Earth Day. If you've got some old tights that you were thinking of tossing out, here's a nifty way to re-purpose them into something fun and new. Isn't it fabulous?

{I Ssssssssssssssee You!}

Materials:

• old pair tights (or pantyhose, if you don't mind your snake's body being sheer instead of opaque)
• scissors
• newspaper
• googly eyes (or eyeball stickers)
• scrap of paper, felt, ribbon, or yarn for tongue
• glue

Directions:

1. Cut the legs off a pair of old tights (or pantyhose). One pair of tights will make two snakes.
2. Stuff one leg with crumpled or wadded newspaper. Depending on the size of the tights, it may be helpful to first cut the paper into smaller rectangles.
3. Stuff the nylon full of newspaper, leaving about three inches at the end. Use this material to tie a knot, closing the end. It's stretchy, making it easy to work with!
4. Glue on two googly eyes. We were provided with eyeball stickers for this, but I think googly eyes may hold up better long-term.
5. Glue on a tongue. We placed ours right along the seam, which reminded me of a mouth. The tongue we were provided with was a yellow construction paper rectangle with a fork at the end. I curled it slightly around my finger before gluing it to the tights. If you don't want to use paper, I think felt, ribbon, or yarn would be a more durable alternative. This is resourceful, too, if you already have bits of those items laying around.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to check out my review and giveaway from Path Publishing! The giveaway runs through April 28, 2014.