Paper Plate Scaly Sensory Snake

A paper plate snake is one of those quintessential childhood crafts that every kid makes at some point. I really wanted to have Kingston make one for our animal theme, but I wanted to make it more exciting and textually pleasing. K was really into the snake skin that I attached to our Animal Texture Board. Inspired by a snake's scales, I combined an unlikely ingredient (one that Kingston LOVES to eat!) with some paint and K created an adorable snake craft!

Pastina (aka stars or acini de pepe) is one of Kingston's loves. He loves to eat it with butter, egg, and fresh Parmesan cheese. Whenever he eats it, it gets everywhere! I find pastina in every nook and cranny around the kitchen for days. He loves squishing it and molding it on his tray. It is a totally awesome sensory material. When I thought about how I could recreate scales, that was what came to mind. However, I didn't want to cook it. So, I figured I would try mixing it with the paint to see what happened. It ended up becoming soft and was the exact texture I was going for. I was really excited to give some to Kingston to explore.

I taped the paper plate to his tray, and spooned the concoction on top. He was immediately intrigued and ran his fingers through it. 

He was very interested in the texture as he painted. He kept staring at his hands and moving the pasta and paint around in between his fingers. I explained to him that he was painting a green snake and that the snake had scales. Then I made "hissing" snake sounds for him while he giggled at me. 

I was thrilled that unlike our oat painting, he didn't attempt to eat any of this! He laughed as he looked at his gloppy green hands.

The pastina paint dried fairly quickly, and I cut it into a spiral snake. I glued on googly eyes and a red forked tongue. I really love how it came out!

I love using pantry/household items in new and exciting ways! This project doubled as both a sensory activity and a paint craft. Kingston had so much fun! 

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