You are invited to download the Snake Pack with learning printables for preschool and kindergarten children. Use this resource with clear true-to-life images and photographs to create hands-on reptile-themed activities for your students or for exploring desert animals in your classroom.
About snakes
Snakes are fascinating creatures with unique anatomy. They have long, slender bodies with no legs, arms, or external ears. Instead of ears, they have a small opening on the side of their head that picks up vibrations. Snakes also have flexible jaws that allow them to swallow prey up to three times the size of their head. They have sharp teeth that point backward to grab and hold onto their prey. Their skin is covered in scales that protect them and help them move smoothly. Some snakes can also change color to blend into their surroundings.
Snakes go through a cycle of birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Most species of snakes lay eggs, while others give live birth. When hatched or born, snakes are fully formed and equipped to survive. They grow by shedding their skin, and as they mature, they become sexually mature and breed during specific seasons. Some snakes lay eggs and abandon them, while others guard their nests until the eggs hatch. Young snakes grow quickly and may reach maturity within a year or two, depending on the species. Snakes typically live anywhere from a few years to several decades.
Snake Hands-on Activities for Preschool
There are many fun and interactive hands-on activities that preschoolers can do to learn about the life cycle of a snake. Some ideas include making a paper chain to represent the stages of the snake’s life, creating a sensory bin with toy snakes and plastic eggs to act out the hatching stage, and doing a snake-themed scavenger hunt around the classroom or outside to find materials representing different stages of the life cycle. These activities help preschoolers understand the different stages of a snake’s life and develop important fine motor and imaginative play skills.
To make a snake sensory bin for kids, you will need a plastic bin, green rice, toy snakes, rocks, sticks, and leaves. First, pour the green rice into the bin, creating a grassy base. Then, add the rocks, sticks, and leaves to give the sensory bin some texture. Finally, add the toy snakes to the bin, burying them in the rice. Encourage children to search for hidden snakes with their hands or plastic tweezers. The sensory bin provides a fun and engaging way to teach children about snakes and their habitats.
Engage kids in the world of snakes with hands-on activities that make learning about these fascinating creatures fun and interactive. Start by creating a snake habitat using rocks, sticks, and plants. Encourage kids to research different types of snakes and create models using clay or paper plates. Using plastic eggs and toy snakes, create a snake egg hunt. For a hands-on science experiment, create a homemade snake skin by soaking a piece of fabric in vinegar and glycerin and wrapping it around a cardboard tube. These activities will inspire kids to learn more about snakes and their unique characteristics.
Snake pack
Children will learn the stages of the snake life cycle, and parts of a snake, practice sequencing skills and work to improve their concentration and fine motor skills.
This resource contains a snake life cycle poster, worksheet, 3-part cards, and parts of a snake printable.
Here is what’s included:
- Snake life cycle diagram
- Snake life cycle 3 part cards
- Snake life cycle coloring, cutting, and pasting worksheet (color and blackline)
- Snake life cycle tracing strips
- Snake life cycle information cards
- Parts of Snake diagram
- Parts of the Snake diagram minus labels
- Parts of the Snake labels
- Parts of the Snake information cards
- Parts of the Snake tracing & independent writing worksheet
- Parts of the Snake student booklet (independent writing)
- Types of Snakes 3 part cards
- Types of Snakes information cards
- Snake characteristics color poster
- Snake characteristics black line poster
- Snake characteristics mat
- Snake characteristics color cards
- Snake characteristics tracing & coloring student booklet
- Snake characteristics student booklet
- Snake information poster
- My Book of Snakes
- Snake Food vs Preditors sorting cards
- Snake anatomy diagram adjective activity
Age: Preschool ages 3 – 6 years
Subjects and uses in the classroom: Reptiles, Desert, Nature Table, Science Centers, Fine motor, Prewriting
How to use this resource:
Parts of a Snake – Gather books about snakes for children to explore. Print posters and label cards on cardstock and laminate. Cut individual label cards. Attach clear velcro to the poster without labels and label cards.
Present the poster – name all parts and invite the students to share their thoughts on the various functions of each part and make their own research. Then read each label and invite the student to match it to the corresponding part of the snake’s body.
Life cycle poster – print on cardstock and laminate. Present all stages of the snake’s life cycle. Invite the children to retell them or tell their own story that features all the stages.
get the matching cobra life cycle figurines here
Snake life cycle 3- part cards – Print on cardstock and laminate if you wish to preserve colors and card quality for future use. Place picture cards in a column and invite the children to match the picture to the picture and the word to the word. Present control cards and invite the child to lay the stages of the cycle in the correct order.
Snake life cycle line art – supply scissors, glue, and coloring pencils. Invite the student to color and cut cards and glue them into the correct sequence.
Snake tracing/labeling and coloring worksheets – print on cardstock and laminate. Supply an erasable pen. Invite the child to trace the words and color corresponding images. Alternatively, print pages on regular printing paper and invite the child to trace or label parts of a snake and snake life cycle.
You might like to invite the students to compare the life cycle of the snake with other reptiles.
Desert Vocabulary 3 Part Cards and Tracing Strips – Editable
Three-part cards are an excellent tool to help interactively learn new vocabulary and spelling. Classified cards can be used to enrich the child’s vocabulary, to develop reading, writing, and classification skills while broadening the child’s knowledge of the world. Create bilingual/multilingual cards for the students in your minority language with ease.
There are many various ways you can use this resource in your classroom:
vocabulary wall
display cards
memory game
matching activity
3 part cards
in combination with the moveable alphabet
There are two files included:
1) PDF file in English with
– 40 picture + label cards
– 40 picture cards
– 40 label cards
– 8 pages for tracing
– instructions
2) Editable PowerPoint file. You can edit text and translate it into any language. Create your bilingual/multilingual cards, change font style and size, etc.
Please ensure you have PowerPoint installed on your device. Alternatively, upload the file to Google Slides, translate, and customize it to use in your own language, save, download, and print.
Cards measure:
label and picture card: 12×9.3cm or 4.7″x3.6″
picture card: 8.9×9.3 cm or 3.5″x3.6″
label card: 2.9×9.5 cm or 1.1″x3.6″
Vocabulary featured in the set: Desert, yucca, saguaro cactus, barrel cactus, vulture, tarantula, scorpion, roadrunner, ringtail cat, rattle snake, prairie dog, mule deer buck, mountain lion, longnose snake, kangaroo rat, peccary, jack rabbit, Gila monster, desert tortoise, quail, sun, sand, camel, sandstorm, sand dunes, solar energy, nomad, ostrich, turban, tent, caravan, oasis, red kangaroo, Sahara Desert, Gobi Desert, Arabian Desert, tumbleweed, arid, meerkat, Atacama Desert.