Introducing 3-5 year olds to Snakes!!

I get to semi-realise one of my possible career goals (by incorporating it into my other career goal!)
Next week's theme at the daycare where I'm a caregiver is Pets. To show the kids that some people keep more unusual pets than others, I'll be bringing my Ball Python in to show the threes (my kids) and fours and fives (a couple of my kids are in this class now).
I plan to tell them
-the meaning of 'cold blooded'
-the way he "tastes" smells
-his heat sensing
-shedding and the general ownership of scales as opposed to skin
-an exhibition of slithering

I might let them touch him briefly. It depends on how they react.

Any suggestions or additions to what I should tell them?

I'd rather not go into the whole "he crushes the crap out of a mouse then swallows it whole" thing. They're a little too young for it.

Here's another thread that may help... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=38402

I've taken my snakes to the fours preschool class and my son's kindergarten class. I'd advise you not to let them encircle you, but allow you to come to them or line them up. Two fingers for touching is a good rule if you feel that the kids can handle it, and then an immediate trip to the bathroom for washing hands. It's a wonderful treat to see the kids faces and it's educational too. I hope it goes well, and remember to have someone some pics!

Yeah, seriously I'll try to get pictures. I already have a little photo album with a ton of pictures of the snake in it for my kids and I think I'll put it in the 4/5's next week sometime too so they know what to expect (not green or slimy, etc :P)
But I just realised my good camera will be with my boyfriend in Toronto! Oh well, I'll have to use my bad camera. Bad pictures are better than no pictures!

I've already had a couple of parents ask me if their kids can come meet Orey outside of daycare time... so this will be a big treat for a lot of my boys.

When I took my geckos and snake into my son's kindergarten class, I had another kindergarten teacher ask to bring their class through, and then got nabbed again for a 2nd grade class. The kids all loved it, but I did see one teacher rush her class in and shut her door. lol.

Another thing that I would advise is to bring in any old shed you may have... preferably one your not attached to. ;)

I should have one of those on Sunday... He's gotta look his best for my kids!!

I've been meaning to bring some shed to put in the album I made, but I keep forgetting haha. The shed is something that they can touch without me worrying too much :D

Exactly. You can pass that around and do your talk before you bring out your snake, as they'll be completely awed the second they see it. Anything you say after that point just flies over their cute little heads. :giggle:

I'd advise holding the snake so they can pet his tail(mid-section back) so there is no chance of getting bitten. You can tell THEM it's so he doesn't think they will poke his eyes, since they don't have eyelids.(Another point they love, no EYELIDS??????)
I like to tickle the belly and show them how he squirms away from it, saying "They are ticklish" or something else.
This is all just stuff I do when showing snakes to kids. Your results may vary.
Wolfy

Don't forget to bring the hand sanitizer with you and make sure they all use it if they've touched the snake.

We're going to be doing a snake talk in the spring at our son's school (he's 5). Other than basic information about how snakes are the same and different than other pets we are also going to cover why snakes are important in the world and what to do if a child comes across a snake in their yard. Things like why the snake is there, it's job in nature and that they should leave it alone to go about it's business.

I think it's really great to introduce small kids to the world of herps and with straightforward information help them understand that snakes aren't mean or wanting to bite them and that they have a real job in Mother Nature's world of creatures. :)

I'll have a bucket of warm soapy water at the ready. Because of their age I don't want to use chemical hand sanitizer - that's a parent decision and we don't use any at my work. But no worries. Hands WILL be washed!!

I'm very impressed at my parents. Today I put up signs at the doors of the two rooms whose kids will be meeting the snake. Not ONCE did I have a concern over it biting someone, hurting someone, being full of diseases - most of the parents just said "That's so COOL of you!!"
I'm so excited! Day after tomorrow!

Best of luck. I'm sure you'll have a blast.

i have been takeing my snakes and tort to my sons school by there request. and i let the kids hold the snake or tort if they like and the teachers take a pic of them with it. then they clean there hands in a sanatizer they i take and the kids have a blast.

I'm always amazed that it's mostly adults that show fear or concern over our snake collection. Their kids are more wide eyed and wanting to touch and learn. It's great to get them the right information early on so they don't develop unreasonable fears.

That sounds awesome! I remember in my grade school, we had some company come in with snakes and other reptiles to show us, and it was one of the most fun things I took from my school years.

Today is the day!!!! :D :D :D
Pictures to come later!

I work with the snakes at my college, and I occasionally take a snake (usually our seven and a half foot red tail) to some of the labs, and I get just about the same group of questions as the ones mentioned in the thread that was linked to earlier. Some things never change i guess :P I hope it goes well for you.

It was GREAT! The kids asked great questions and listened VERY well. None of them were afraid.
... but a lot of the other teachers were! :O

Some pictures!
http://mousch.zoto.com/img/45/8343fa...15168a4a0-.jpg

http://mousch.zoto.com/img/45/8afd7e...b8f963001-.jpg
Two gentle fingers!!

http://mousch.zoto.com/img/45/9945fb...f7c7129f3-.jpg
"What do you think?"
"I love him!!"

http://mousch.zoto.com/img/45/d9a155...f868859ed-.jpg
Once he started to move all the kids went WOOW
Then he periscoped for a bit and all the girls were like awww

What wonderful pics! I love the "two finger" pic, perfect way to have small kids learn about gentle touch with no pinching or grabbing. :)

It was great.
But one kid kept trying to grab at him when he was on the floor in the second room I talked in so I had to pick him up :(
I know he was excited and wanted to hold him, but he wasn't listening to me, stressing out my snake and putting him in danger.

That's awesome! I'm planning on doing the same thing for my son's kindergarten class when the weather is warmer.

His friends like my son's ball python blog. Check it out if you want. If you want to set up something similar for yours I can give you some pointers.

Congrats on the successful presentation! I looks like everyone had a great time. :clap:

I've taken in my snakes for 1st and second graders. ya gotta love it when they stare in awe and say "cool" all nonchalant like.

tell them venomous vs nonvenomous. first thing they will ask is "does it have poision?" least thats what I dealt with

they'll ask what it eats, how it eats and how often. they will want to know how big they get. and my group asked, surprisingly enough, asked about eggs vs live young.

our classroom has a large carpeted area on the floow, so sometimes we have the kids make a big circle and let the snakes wander (very supervised, just fyi). as the snake gets to a kid, the kid can pet nicely and gets to ask a question.

that might work best with smaller groups like our brownie troop.

anyway, hope that helped some. sounds like you're gonna have fun...I know I do!
good luck~

Even better, this seems to have made him hungrier! I fed him today and he just HAMMERED the mouse back! Usually he fights with it for about 10 minuts, but today he just swallowed it right fast. :D I love my boy

I think that is a great age to intro kids to snakes.. any younger and they may tend to not really understand what's going on. but I did let my 2-year old niece see a few of our ball pythons, and all she wanted to do was reach out and grab them; and she is not by nature really an outgoing kid or anything. (she likes to scream at people she doesn't see on a daily basis, lol.) Hopefully I can "corrupt" her into wanting all sorts of reptiles, fish (already did that, my sister set 2 tanks up for ths kid) and eventually horses.. I am sure my sister and brother in law, and their wallets, will thank me. :D