DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Bouncy Cobra Paper Craft

This bouncy snake is fun to make and even more fun to play with!
 

Materials:

• one or two colors of construction paper (they look nicer with two colors I think)
• scissors
• scotch tape
• glue
• markers
   
• Optional:  wiggly eyes
• Optional:  drinking straw

Instructions:

• cut three or four strips of construction paper about 1 or 2 inches wide and 11 inches long (it doesn't have to be exact) and tape them together to make one long piece (30 to 40 inches long).
   
• Repeat the first step to make a second very long strip of paper
   
• Note:  There really is no limit to how long your snake can be... just keep adding strips of construction paper to your accordion folding.  If the children enjoy the project, they may want to "compete" with themselves or each other to see who can make the longest snake (Kaitlyn's determined to make one that wraps all the way around her bedroom).  To take a break from folding, just scotch tape it where you've ended off and then remove the tape the next time you want to start folding.
   
• tape the pieces of paper together in an L shape.
   
• accordion fold the paper (see the diagrams below if you don't know how to accordion fold paper)
   

STEP 1 tape as an L		STEP 2 fold bottom piece over top piece		STEP 3 crease to make another L		STEP 4 repeat step 2

• Continue until you have 6 to 10 inches of unfolded paper left.
   
• Trim one color off and tape it so your accordion won't unravel  (in our case, we trimmed off the red color).
   
• Take a piece of construction paper the same color as the remaining long strip.  (in our case, blue)
   
  • Fold it in half
     
  • cut out a heart
     
  • use glue or tape to attach the heart to the back of the long strip to make the cobra's head
     

• I found the head didn't stand up all that well at this point.
   
• I taped a piece of drinking straw onto the back of the snake, all the way down into the accordion folds (see photo to the right).  This made the snake stand up nicely for us.
   
• You can then glue a second piece of construction paper over top of the straw to hide it (if you don't want it to show)
   
Tongue:
  
• Cut a tongue shape from red construction paper
   
• Fold a small tab at the end and glue it onto the head
   
• Kaitlyn added a mouth and fangs with black marker
   

• Glue on wiggly eyes or draw eyes on with a marker
   
• We cut eyes out of red construction paper and drew an eye slit in the middle of each with a black marker
   

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