Snakes!

*This is lessons and activities we did a few weeks ago, before the blog was set up. I took lots of pictures and I will post a brief description of what we did along with the pictures. Unfortunately I did not make a list of all of the books we read, but I do have some of them! I will work on posting current lessons with more details once I am caught up with the blog!

One evening we were taking a walk around the park. Rosebud was convinced that a snake lived inside every crack in the dirt we walked past. She started asking so many questions about snakes! First it was cute, and then I started to get a little bit annoyed. Finally I said, "Sweetheart, I don't know all of these answers. Would you like to go to the library and learn about snakes?" And that's how we got started with snakes. To date this is probably her favorite lesson week we have done. She knows a whole bunch of snake facts and loves to show them off! Some of it stuck with Bubba as well, if you ask him how a snake smells he will flick his tongue in and out of his mouth. It's adorable.

 I had a hard time finding pre-school friendly books about snakes at our library. I ended up getting non-fiction books geared towards older elementary aged children. I showed them the pictures and edited what I read so they would have an easier time understanding the information. We also made several snake crafts. If you browse my printerest "Homeschoolin" page long enough you'll find them. I didn't take any pictures of them, because at the time I didn't plan this blog.

We talked about defensive measures snakes take, especially the rattlesnake since that is a common one here in Texas. Rosebud also loved the Cobra. At the end of our snakes week we took a trip to the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo in New Braunfels, TX. It was so much fun! My husband doesn't like snakes and even he had fun. They have the snakes inside cages, and also blocked off by wire fencing.  Check out their website:

http://www.exoticanimalworld.com/

I have to admit, from the highway it looks kind of ghetto. We mainly went because I knew they had snakes and I wanted the kids to see some of the snakes we had been learning about. I love it there! Huge bonus not snake related, they had a baby zebra. It was adorable. If you live in the area you should go and check it out! I promise you won't be disappointed, unless you don't like fun. :)

We're checkin out the turtles! Bubba LOVES turtles

Here is Rosebud and Bubba looking at more turtles, and snakes!

Here is the baby zebra!

What! More turtles?!

This is Bubba doing his monkey face. My husband was helping out with his other ear.

Oh yeah, they have a petting zoo too!