Snakes

By Ralph Dewey

Big Mouth Snake

One animal that always seems to be popular with boys is the snake. A quick and easy version that has some cartoon qualities is the “Big Mouth” snake. It is made from one #260 balloon and two 6″ heart balloons, one white and one red. Begin by fully inflating the #260 except for 1″, then tie off the nozzle. Twist off a 6″ bubble, fold it and tie it.

Twist off another 6″ bubble and fold twist it as well. These folded bubbles will be the mouth of the snake.

Inflate the 6″ white heart balloon (the eyes) to about 2-1/2 inches and tie off the nozzle. Divide it in half and twist-connect it to the base of the two folded 6″ bubbles.

Tuck the nozzle of a red 6″ heart (the tongue) into the middle of the two 6″ folded bubbles. Curve the remaining #260 balloon into a serpentine shape. Mark the eyes.

Diamond-Head Snake

Another snake idea is the “Diamond-Head” snake. It also requires one #260 balloon and two 6″ heart balloons, one white and one red. Inflate the #260 fully except for about 1″ and tie off the nozzle. Twist off bubble in this order, 3″, 1″, 8″ and 1″. Twist-connect the last three bubbles. Fold the 8″ bubble and squeeze it in the middle so that it is pointed.

Now make the eyes. Inflate the white 6″ heart balloon to about 2-1/2″ and tie off the nozzle. Divide the balloon by twisting it into equal halves. This is the same method you used for making the eyes for the Big Mouth snake. Twist-connect the eyes to the base of the 3″ bubble. Tuck the 3″ bubble into the middle of the 8″ bubble as shown below.

Glue an uninflated red 6″ heart to the bottom of the snake’s mouth to be the tongue. See the bottom view in the photo.

Mark the eyes of the snake. Bend the long remaining #260 into a serpentine shape to complete the diamond-head snake.

Pro Tip:

Here is one way to add a rattle to your snake. See the parts and their order.

Cut off the last 2 inches of the nipple end of a #260 balloon (yellow in this case). Add a little salt. Inflate just the nipple end to about 1″. Tie off the knot so there will be a little bit of uninflated balloon between the knot and the inflated part. See the photo for details.

Take a 3″ section of a #260 balloon (blush color in this case) and tie off one end. This will be called the first knot. Inflate the balloon section to about 1-1/2″ next to the “First” knot. Then tie off the other end leaving about 1/2″ of uninflated balloon. Then tie an extra knot about 1/2″ from the last knot. See the photos below for details.

Poke the knot of the yellow first bubble (the one with salt) into the “First” knot on the inflated end of the second blush balloon. Grasp all three knots and rotate the balloon thus making an apple twist connection. Tuck the cluster of the three knots back inside the balloon slightly to help keep the apple connection from untwisting. The extra knot will be sticking out slightly.

Make a third section of balloon (yellow in this case) just like the second one. Use the extra knot of the previous balloon section to join with the third section of balloon by using an apple connection.

Use the extra knot from the third yellow balloon section to apple-connect the rattle to the nipple end of your balloon snake. When the rattle is wiggled, the salt makes it give off a rattlesnake sound. The Balloon Challenge this month is your version of a snake.