Folded Paper Slinky Snakes

As a kid I used to fold metallic gum wrappers into chains for fun, and it seemed like a perfect hour long activity to include in our toy making mini-unit for my Art class. These paper slinkies can be scrunched up to let boing along the table or straight up and down. Children may glue paper shake heads to wiggle around. Four of them can be used as arms and legs for a puppet or paper monster. They can be used to make bracelets, or decorations. Small versions make perfect mechanism in pop up cards. Kids can come with with more ideas, so it's good to leave the purpose of these paper slinkies opened ended. 

To make, cut long strips of paper. I cut 18" X 12" paper lengthwise into 12-one inch strips. I limited the colors to primary colors and each student chose two of those colors. The ends of two contrasting strips were glued together at a right angle. One color should face up and one to the left. If the blue is facing up and the yellow on the side start with the one on the bottom. If the yellow is on the bottom that you'd fold it over to the left like you're turning the pages of a book and crease lightly before turning the top strip down to cover that color. The pattern is: side-down-side-up-side-down-side, etc. When you get to the end of the strip glue another one of the same color to extend the length of each. You can make it as long or short as you'd like. 

All of my totally-blind students figured it out enough to work independently, which meant I could read my class a chapter or two from a fun book. One student said, "I finally found something I'm good at!"