These silly painted rock snakes and bugs are a simple craft for kids to make in a single afternoon.
Silly snakes have funny, adorable faces and can be built, taken apart, and rebuilt over and over again.
There’s no right or wrong way to make silly snakes and bugs.
I don’t know about you, but perfect art activities stress me out. Maybe it’s because I am horribly unartistic, so my art always ends up looking like a wild animal just dragged a canvas through a paint store. Though, that would probably turn out better than my art, now that I think about it.
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
Process Art Is a Real Thing
Process art takes all the stress out of what we think of as art, which is really “fine art” like the kind you see in museums. It’s all about the… wait for it… process!
My daughter LOOOOVES painting (especilaly with glow in the dark paint) and because I want to be a good mom, I try to hold back on trying to make her paint the way I think she should.
Art is HER time to express her creativity and be in control of the (there’s that word again) process.
It makes her happy, and I’m not messing with that!
Supplies Needed
For this rock craft, you’ll need:
- rocks (we used black river rocks from the dollar store)
- googly eyes
- red yarn
- paint (lots of colors available including metallics and neons)
- glitter (totally optional!)
It took us 45 minutes to get the rocks painted, glittered, and otherwise decorated. My three-year-old, Elena, would’ve kept going longer, but we were cutting into naptime!
How We Painted our Silly Rock Snakes and Bugs
We used this easy, squeezy glow-in-the-dark paint to make these silly snakes and bugs for this quick and fun indoor craft. It’s the same paint we used to paint our glow-in-the-dark pumpkins, which are still going strong several weeks later!
I love using this particular brand of paint because it comes in mess-free little squeeze bottles, which are easy for young ones to work with. (A little harder when they’re only a third full, but if you store them upside down, they’ll be easy to use again!)
The tip is small and fine so only a bit of paint comes out at a time. I like how the paint is buildable, or puffy, because it makes it easy to do some fun textures like dots and stripes that really feel texture-y once dry.
Elena used a toothpick to spread the paint around the rocks. I thought she might do different colors and swirl them together, but she preferred painting only one color per rock.
And now… the Glitter
To jazz up the rocks a little, I got out the glitter.
I was very nervous about this. One, glitter tends to go EVERYWHERE. Two, too much glitter will cover over the paint and the rocks won’t glow as well.
So before I let Elena use the glitter, I dangled it in front of her like a carrot so she would pay attention to me, and said, “Be gentle when you sprinkle the glitter. Too much glitter will cover the paint and the rocks won’t glow.”
She understood and did her best to only do a little glitter because she wanted so badly to see those rocks to glow at night. I was so proud.
She used a toothpick to mix the glitter in with the paint again.
When she was satisfied with the amount of glitter and paint on the rocks, we chose three to add eyes to, and two to add a small piece of red yarn to for the snake’s tongue.
We used the paint to “glue” the eyes on.
The rocks dried in a safe place overnight. They were still slightly tacky the next morning, but given the amount of paint slathered on them, I wasn’t surprised. Two, three days later and they’re still a tiny bit tacky, but overall better than the first 8 hours.
Playing with Silly Snakes and Bugs
Elena built long and short snakes, pet the little stripy bug, and counted the rocks that made up the long snake’s body.
Again, there’s no right or wrong way to make OR play with silly snakes and bugs.
She then charged up her favorite rocks in the sunlight and ran to her closet to watch the rocks glow.
What we’re LEarning
Using the squeeze bottles is great for strengthening fine motor muscles, but also introduces a different way to paint. Elena really had to think about how the paint would come out of the bottle and figure out how to get it where she wanted it to go.
I love when crafts can be played with because it gives me more bang for my buck.
First we spend some time making something and getting our creative juices flowing. Art is a great time to let our kids go wherever their imaginations take them.
Then when the craft is finished, it can be played with, often for imaginative play!
These little rocks went on many adventures… including to the grocery store and on car rides!
Your Turn to Make Silly Snakes and Bugs
It’s your turn to do this fun craft with your kids. I highly recommend the Tulip paint in little squeeze bottles. They’re easy for young kids to use and not too much product comes out at once.
Hope you enjoy playing with your silly snakes and bugs!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!