With half our house sick with pneumonia, it allowed me some extra one on one crafting time with my middle where we made this super cool Moses’ Staff to Snake Toilet Paper Craft! We used it to supplement our Moses Warns Pharaoh Torah story learning, but this would be a perfect Passover craft. Or a craft for any snake lovers out there! My guy loved pretending the snake was real and chasing after things in the house, including his siblings (of course)!
What You’ll Need
- 10 toilet paper rolls
- Paint
- Paintbrush
- Tissue paper or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Ribbon
- Tape
- Staples
- Red construction paper
- Black sharpie or googly eyes
Putting It Together
- Paint your toilet paper rolls. If you want a realistic snake, choose those types of paint colors (green or brown). My kids love colorful everything so our snake was all kinds of colors.
- Cut your tissue paper or construction paper into diamond shapes to represent the scales of the snake.
- Once the toilet paper rolls dry, glue on your diamond paper scales. Let dry.
- Thread the ribbon from the first toilet paper roll through the last, taping at the top and bottom (inside the toilet paper roll) to secure the ribbon. Have the toilet paper rolls as close to touching each other as you can and still tape. We lined them up, then folded one down and were able to tape the next one that way.
- Cut off any excess ribbon at the end.
- Cut a snake’s forked tongue out of the red construction paper; glue or tape it to the inside first toilet paper roll.
- Trim the first roll so that the top is rounded for the snake’s face; staple the top and bottom closed (tongue is sticking out!).
- Staple the last toilet paper roll closed.
- Draw eyes with the sharpie or glue on googly eyes.
- Practice being Moses and first having the snake straight as the staff then turning the staff into the snake when you toss it to the ground. So fun!
Finished & Loving It!
It’s always special having one on one time with a kiddo and while I really really really wish we were not so sick (especially in summer, no fair!), it was great to focus on my incoming first grader and watch him create his staff to snake!
There were lots of great fine motor skill practices here. Painting, having to hold and manipulate that paint brush, is always a simple, but great fine motor practice. Tearing tape and gluing are too.
This craft also gave my guy the opportunity to practice stapling. This is not a skill that we practice all that much so it’s good to include it when we can. Stapling takes manipulation and maneuvering of the paper and muscle strength to make the stapler actually work. Such good practice for these kids!
Once our staff to snake was finished, my guy cackled as he pretended to be Moses and tossed the snake down. He thought it was so great!
This is another simple, but meaningful craft that would work in your home or in your preschool–can you imagine a classroom full of Moses turning their staffs into snakes? I may have to try it for my next Passover lesson!
We created a whole page dedicated to Torah Stories, our Torah Stories page. Check it out! It includes some of the Torah Stories activities we plan to do this unit, as well as the activities we’ve done in previous years.
And don’t forget that we introduce each torah story with a set of 3 Part Cards. All the cards are available in our With, Love, Ima Shop.
The following sites are amazing resources for learning more about Jewish torah stories:
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