How To Make an Origami Serpent Book

I am teaching an after school book arts class. Since I have very young children, I made one of the folding paper serpents for each of them. The children used crayons to add patterns to both sides of their creature. This coming week we'll add ears and tongues with folded paper. Slightly older children (maybe starting at 6 or 7) would probably enjoy doing the folding. With the young children I did demonstrate how the serpent is constructed. I used computer paper cut into five inch squares. I joined four squares to make the book. I tried it with drawing paper, but it was a bit too heavy once the books were folded.

Just to clarify: In step 3, when I say that the paper should be "flipped", I mean that you should turn the paper over. The last couple of steps are a bit difficult to describe, so I would suggest playing with it, don't be discouraged. In the last photo, it's important to note that the creases are going in different directions. In the photo, I joined them with tape, but glue stick works nicely.