Reminder: Small materials, such as wiggle eyes, can be a choking hazard for small children, so close adult supervision is a must.
Craft foam
Scissors
Green pool noodle
Wiggle eyes
Waterproof glue
Permanent marker
Rubber band
1. Cut out an alligator face, snout, and five scales from craft foam. Use the illustration, below, as a guide.
2. In each piece, cut a hole slightly smaller than the width of the pool noodle (so the shapes are tight enough to stay on).
3. Glue the wiggle eyes to the face. Decorate the face and snout with a permanent marker.
4. Cut two small 1/2-inch sections from one end of the pool noodle. Cut a notch into each section until you reach the empty center of the noodle.
5. On one end of the pool noodle, slide on one section of the pool noodle and secure with a rubber band. Then slide on the face and snout, proceeded by the other section of pool noodle and secure with another rubber band. Slide the scales onto the rest of the noodle.
Younger kids: Help your child make a bathtub gator! Use one-third of a pool noodle and cut out two scales. Then have fun playing with it in the bath. What fun stories can you and your child make up together about this mini gator?
Older kids: Your child probably knows the call-and-response, “See you later, alligator. After ‘while, crocodile.” But does he know the difference between alligators and crocodiles? Help him look up info or check out books from the library that explain the difference between the two. What would he need to do to make a pool-noodle crocodile?
Gift Guide 
