How to Make a Wooden Snake Toy

Wooden snakes are classic antique toys that can be make from almost any type of wood. The simple design of wooden craft snakes encourages children to expand their creativity away from battery operated toys. Use these instructions to recycle wooden handles from shovels for eco-friendly homemade toys.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 1- inch thick wooden dowel (or substitute a recycled wood handle)
• Saw
• Sandpaper
• Knife
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Drill with 1/16-inch bit
• Small gauge eyehooks
• Superglue
• Fishing line
• Ribbon

1. Cut the wooden craft dowel into small sections that are each about 1-inch long. You can vary the length of the sections between 1/2-inch and 2 inches or keep them all the same length based on your wooden snake toy design.

2. Rub the ends with sandpaper to smooth all cut edges.

3. Carve the end of one wood section to a taper. Leave the other end untouched. The front should resemble a sloped toy snake's head.

4. Carve another section to a tapered point to resemble the toy snake's tail.

5. Pre-drill a small hole with the 1/16-inch bit in the center of each end for each wooden snake body segment. The snake toy's head and tail pieces will only have holes in the untouched side. Drill the holes about 1/4-inch into the wood sections.

6. Place a drop of super glue in the pre-drilled hole. Push an eyehook into the hole so the round eye fits against the wood toy body segment. Hold it until it will stay and dry on its own. Do this for every section end.

7. Tie a small piece of fishing line to the eyehook on the snake's head. Thread the other end through the eyehook on another section. Pull the fishing line until you only have an inch of slack between the pieces. Connect another segment to this piece. Continue connecting all the body sections and finish with the tail section.

8. Paint the snake toy's body with a solid color and allow it to dry. Use other colors to paint stripes, circles, or diamonds on the snake's back. Paint eyes and a tongue on the snake toy's head.

9. Tie a long piece of ribbon behind the wooden snake toy's head. Use the ribbon to lead the snake toy around as it slithers across the floor. Jerk the ribbon up to make the snake toy do flips.