Fun Learning Activities For Kids Who Find Reptiles Fascinating

Are you looking for some reptiles activities for kids? Young children are usually curious about reptiles. They’re fascinating creatures that can both be found in the wild eg komodo dragons and in some families’ homes as pets.

Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates and are covered with scales on their bodies rather than feathers or hair. Fun activities can act as a learning experience and are great for homeschooling families.

Try a field trip or go pond dipping for tadpoles, frogs or lizards, even if it’s in your own back yard. Bring classroom learning to life. Add in reptile crafts, science experiments, and books with a reptile theme and you’ll have them hooked on learning more!

With these reptiles activities for kids, you’ll be able to capture your child’s interest and support their learning in a fun and engaging manner.

Reptile Crafts

It’s easy for younger kids to create a paper chain snake. Get your kids to pick a paper color and cut out strips of paper. Glue the first strip into a circle, and then repeat, making sure each circle attaches to the one before it, making a short paper chain. Draw a face and a tongue (Using glue sticks, add on a red paper or felt tongue as well as small googly eyes) and this reptile activity is ready to go!

For added fun, make an obstacle course on the ground for the snake to glide through. Watch how the body slithers and wiggles as you move it through the obstacles.

Paper plates can be used to make 3D snakes. Paint the plate and let it dry. Then, starting at the outside edge, begin to cut a spiral into the plate, turning the plate as you cut. Add google eyes to the inner circle to make it the head of the snake. Make a small hole in the center and hang it from the ceiling.

This is an easy activity that would be suitable for preschool classrooms. For older kids, you could use colors and markings to match real snakes. You can get some snake color inspiration here. Bubble wrap dipped into paint can be used to give a scaly effect. Leave one plate unpainted to make a snow snake. This activity could lead to learning about the different ways snakes camouflage themselves.

Field Trips

Many cities have zoos and nature reserves where you can get up close and personal with different reptiles. Try to pick one with a hands-on experience where your kids can stroke snake skin or hold a lizard. Add to your field trip adventure with a checklist:

•    Bring a reptile checklist. As your child finds one of the reptiles on the field trip, they can check it off the list. How many can they find?

•    Bring a color tally chart. Have your child tally up the various colored reptiles. Which color was the most common?

Reptile Books

Books are an excellent way to find out more about reptiles and broaden kids’ knowledge and creativity. We recommend:

Mary Had a Little Lizard: A hilarious book based on the more traditional nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb. This lizard causes a ruckus at school with Mary. Great for kindergarten students.

The Ultimate Reptile-Opedia: Learn all about various reptiles in this National Geographic book. Suitable for ages 5-12

Reptile Coloring Book: A unique collection of reptile coloring pages that will keep them busy for hours!

Reptile Science Experiment

All kids love science experiments! As far as reptile activities for kids go, this wiggling snake science experiment is totally fun! This one is a little twist on the traditional baking soda/vinegar explosion.

•  You’ll Need: vinegar, baking soda, water, two clear glass jars, and gummy snakes

•  What to do: Place 3-4 TBL of baking soda at the bottom of the glass jar and add 1 cup of warm water. Stir the mixture until dissolved. Cut the snakes in halves, thirds, or fourths (depending on how big they are) and allow the snakes to soak in the mixture for about 15-20 minutes. Fill a separate jar with 1-2 cups vinegar, depending on the size of the jar. One at a time, drop the snakes into the solution and watch them dance!

Physical Activity Ideas

For a reptile-themed game where both older children and younger children can take part, set up an obstacle course. Add photos of reptiles or toy reptiles or even names of reptiles on cards. Tell the children they must ‘catch’ the reptiles or avoid the reptiles (whichever is easiest to set up).

Bean bag toss with math skills: Take 4 small boxes and glue a different reptile picture to the front of each. Work out how dangerous the reptiles are on a scale of 1-10 and write the number on the front of each box. Arrange the boxes in a row so that the boxes are touching. Give each kid 5 bean bags and then get them to toss them into the boxes. When all 5 have been thrown, get the kids to add up their ‘dangerous score’ based on where the bean bags landed. Winner is the one with the highest ‘dangerous score’.

Want an easy way to learn about reptiles? We have some new reptile printables activity packs which you can discover here. 

If your kids are learning about reptiles, be sure to incorporate some of these fun and engaging reptiles activities for kids into your homeschool or classroom learning or simply have fun at home with this engaging topic. 

You might also like this Dinosaur activity idea

Discover how to make Homeschool more fun!