4 Ways to use CONNETIX this Lunar Year: Year of the Snake

By Kathleen Prinsen

The 29^th of January 2025, marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year: The Year of the Wood Snake. Explore cultural diversity and learn about one of the oldest and most widely celebrated traditions in the world with these fun CONNETIX ideas to celebrate the year of the snake!

1. Snake Dominoes

Using CONNETIX to make dominoes is by no means new, but have you used CONNETIX to make snake dominoes before? It’s very easy to make and it’s a great activity to get the whole family involved! Use square tiles for straight areas and isosceles triangles to create curves along the ground. Create a head for your snake at one end and a tail at the other end. For this snake head I added eyes with chalk markers and used a chenille stem as the tongue. However, there are many ways you could individualise your own snake head. Once you are happy with the shape of your snake body, add square tiles at 90 degrees to the tiles along the floor. Lastly, push one tile at one end and watch the domino magic unfold. Once all the tiles have fallen down, pick them all up and play again on repeat.

2. Snake Ball Run

This Snake ball run uses a combination of tiles from the CONNETIX rainbow, clear and roads ranges. I started building this snake from the tail and made my way up to the head last. Clear tiles were used to provide support under the black tiles. I highly recommend using clear rectangles, as they provide excellent support for this structure. However, regular squares would also work well and of course, you could use coloured tiles to support the ball run too. For this ball run I found it worked best rolling the ball down the back of the head. The yellow equilateral triangle connected to the black ramp can be removed if you want to feed the ball into the mouth of the snake. However, removing this yellow tile makes the head less stable and it can be trickier for younger players to feed the ball through the small hole.

Note: I used 5 x turn pieces for this ball run using both a Creative Roads Pack and a Ramps & Intersections Pack. You could make a similar snake using just 1 x Creative Roads Pack by excluding the first turn that follows after the ramps from the head of the snake.

3. Snake Puzzle

CONNETIX puzzles are so much fun! You will need the following to create this puzzle:

2 x CONNETIX Clear base plates
16 x Square tiles
16 x Door tiles
4 x A4 Pieces of paper
Pencil and/or pens
Scissors

Step 1:

Cut 2 x A4 pieces of paper to fit half a base plate each.

Fun fact:
The long side of an A4 piece of paper is the same length as a base plate (i.e. 4 CONNETIX squares long).

Step 2:

Draw a snake design covering both pieces of paper. This was a great activity for me to wind down after the kids had gone to sleep. However, there are a few options if you don’t have time to draw a snake like this. Option 1: Draw a simpler snake. Option 2: Print a snake. Option 3: Get your kids to draw the snake.

Tip: Make a thick border around the image to make it easier to find the edges and corners of the puzzle.

Step 3:

Photocopy the snake drawing.

Step 4:

Use a pencil to draw squares that divide the picture into 16 squares. I used a 4 x 1 CONNETIX rectangle as my ruler.

Step 5:

Cut out all the squares. Place each square piece of paper on top of a square tile and place a door tile on top.

Step 6:

Place photocopy of snake drawing on top of a clear base plate and place a 2^nd clear base plate on top of the image. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes it a lot easier for children to make the puzzle if they can match the puzzle piece with the picture underneath.

Step 7:

Piece the puzzle together.

Tip: Try the following if your child finds the puzzle too hard to complete.

Partially complete the puzzle or help your child identify the pieces
Make a different puzzle using less tiles (e.g. 2×2)
Use more colours, numbers or something else that helps make each puzzle piece more unique.

4. Simple Snakes

If you don’t have a huge CONNETIX collection, then this build is for you! This is one example of how to make a simple snake, but there are so many ways. It doesn’t need to be colour co-ordinated or follow a specific pattern. Use a combination of different tiles and let your children’s creativity go wild!

With CONNETIX, every celebration can spark newfound creativity and inspiration, and the Year of the Snake is certainly going to provide hours of enjoyment for children and even grownups too! For more ideas and creative ways to incorporate the Lunar New Year into your play, check out CONNETIX’s free downloadable holiday resources on their website or this blog.

Kathleen Prinsen

Katie is a pharmacist who found a passion for play when she became a mum of 2 boys. She enjoys inspiring creativity and learning through play. Katie especially loves experimenting and creating with CONNETIX. You can find more of her play ideas on her Instagram account @dudekidz.

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