Upcycled Ties to go with Apologia's Land Animals of the Sixth Day {Snakes!}

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Julia has been studying snakes in science. She uses Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. Can I just say that I *love* the Exploring Creation Series? We worked through the Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day last year and she will be starting General Science next year (sixth grade).

Never heard of Jeannie Fulbright or the Apologia Science Series? Here is little about her and the series from her own website.

"Jeannie Fulbright's science courses have received many accolades and awards as the best science books for homeschoolers. The series is designed for students in elementary through middle school and gives a solid science foundation, using time-tested, proven methods that enhance retention, unleash a child's love for learning and passion for science, while grounding them in their faith.
 
Each book uses the Charlotte Mason philophies of education: including a living, whole book approach to learning, as well as narration and notebooking. Living books engage the reader with words that inspire, not just inform. Whole books cover the subject in its entirety, rather than touching on elementary aspects of each field of science. Narration asks the students to tell back their learning in order to solidify their understanding; notebooking is an especially effective method for recording and retaining one's learning. All of these elements work together to create a course that produces students with science knowledge and understanding, not just memorization of science facts and figures."

As you can see, this is a great curriculum. It fully meets the needs of our Charlotte Mason-esque homeschool.

When Julia learns something new, she talks about it- constantly. She amazes me. She can read something in passing and remember the information for what seems like forever. Sometimes I think she has a photographic memory.

I have heard all about the shedding of the skin.

 

What they eat

 

And of course, the different kind of snakes. She taught me a rhyme to know if a snake is poisonous. "Red on black, poison lack. Red on yellow, kills a fellow." She's been walking around saying it over and over and over...

 

I thought it would be fun to do some kind of snake craft now that she has completed the unit.

 So... ONTO THE SNAKES!!

 

I originally took this picture as the "stuff you will need" photo.

 

Turns out you will need this stuff too.

 

 And if you are looking at that needle and thread then glancing back up to the photo that says "No-Sew". Please, hear me out before calling me a fibber. I originally thought I would sew the ties back together after we stuffed them; however, I couldn't find the right needle. I thought I could just pull the one out of my sewing machine and use that one. I thought wrong. Life lesson learned.. sewing machine needles are for exactly that, sewing machines- and nothing else. The hot glue gun I intended to use to attach the eyes and tongue did double duty and worked well for "sewing" the seams back together.

 

First things first, pick a tie. I chose this one.

 

Open the bigger end and find the thread that holds the two pieces of fabric together. Cut it.

 

Once you cut the thread(s), you will have a hole that's ready to be stuffed.

 

We opted for magazine paper, wadded then twisted.

 

Be sure not to jam the paper in, you can pop the seam and/or get a clog.

 

We had several clogs.

 

We found that wooden skewers (think kabobs) worked extremely well in "unclogging" the snakes.

 

Once you've got your snake stuffed, fold the fabric about where you want it and glue the guy shut.

 

See.. not too bad.

 

One might think, "that must be the one the toddler was working on". No, that is the one my husband was working on. If yours end up like this, no worries. It's nothing a little (or a lot) of hot glue cannot fix.

 

Glue on some eyes and a tongue and there you are!

 

Since we made these last night, the younger kids have played with them almost constantly. They even took them in the car this morning when we took the highschooler to coop! I hope your littles enjoy these as much as mine do.