Year of the Snake kids craft.

Sunday February 10th marks the Chinese New Year.  2013 is the year of the snake, and occurs every 12 years. I have read some interesting characteristics that define those born in the year of the snake.  However, it is not as simple as the birth year alone.  The birth year, month, day and hour are the four pillars of Chinese astrology and in combination determine the personality profile of a person.

My daughter and I attended an art class at Peel Art Gallery Museum + Archives (PAMA) in Brampton, and did a fun snake craft to mark the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Here is a step by step guide.

Materials:

• Neck Tie:  Any tie will do...plain, patterned, neon...whatever you have that you/your spouse do not wear anymore.  In fact, the more hideous the better.  You can find cheap ties at second hand stores if you are doing them with your class.
• Scissors
• Fabric glue or a glue gun
• Dowel (you can find a pack of them at the dollar store).  You can also use a pencil
•  Eco Fiber Fill for the stuffing,  but you can use anything- cotton balls, tissue paper, newspaper
• Red felt- you only need very little for the snake tongue...again you can use anything red.  
• Googly eyes (dollar store)

Instructions:

The thicker part of the tie is the head, and of course the thinner is the tail.  You can start stuffing from either side.  I chose to start from the head portion.

You need to pull apart the tie carefully as to not let the threads come completely apart.  You just loosen the threads in order to have some space to put some stuffing inside with a dowel or small pencil.  

If you are doing this with younger kids, it is easier for them to stuff with their fingers.  Let them pull it apart a bit more so they can fill it by hand.  There are times my daughter pulled a bit harder, but it was an easy fix with fabric glue at the end. 

Stuff the snake until you are content.  More for the head of the snake and less along the tail. 

Tip #1:  If the tie is long, and you have a young crafter, you can cut the tie. We tied the cut off piece around the neck of the snake to be used as a necklace (fancy snake?)

Tip #2:  You can stuff the inside triangle at the thicker portion of the tie to make the head  of the snake look thicker.

Once your snake is stuffed to your liking, you can add the googly eyes and make a tongue out of the red felt.

Voila...snake complete.  Easy, fun and inexpensive.  My kind of project and 3 year old approved.

If you try this, I would love to know.