Crafting a Chestnut Snake. Nature Becomes an Animal.

🎂 5 + years ⏱️ 30 min 📍 Anywhere ⭐ medium

Imagine you're walking through the forest. The leaves rustle, and suddenly you hear a plop. A chestnut falls from the tree and lands right in front of you. You pick it up. It's smooth and shiny in your hand like a marble. For many years, children have been collecting chestnuts. They play with them, trade them, or come up with figures. You can also invent an animal from chestnuts. Picture a snake. Snakes are mysterious; they move quietly and slither gracefully along the ground. Each chestnut you find is a piece of its body. In the end, you'll hold an animal in your hands that exists only once: your very own chestnut snake.

What you'll need

chestnuts
chestnut drill or small hand drill
thread or cord
large needle (blunt, for threading)
beads
scissors
helping hands if tying knots is difficult

How it works

Take a chestnut drill. Hold the chestnut firmly and carefully twist a hole through it. This requires strength and patience. Be careful not to slip. Process as many chestnuts as you want your snake to be long.
Cut a piece of sturdy thread. Make a knot at one end so nothing can fall off.
First, thread on two beads; this will be the snake's tongue. This way, you know which end is the front.
Alternately slide a chestnut and a bead onto the thread. This creates a pattern: chestnut, bead, chestnut, bead.
When the snake is the right length, make another tight knot at the end. This keeps everything together.
Lift the snake by the head and watch it move. Come up with a name or play adventures with it.