My six-year-old and I are almost finished with his snake book. I’ll write about it when we’re finished, but in short, it’s a 3-ring binder “book” we started nearly two years ago because snakes are my son’s passion. At least, he tells me he wants to learn about snakes and that he’s going to study snakes when he grows up – he’s been saying that since he was four (almost five). He’s been able to learn about and touch a lot of snakes at the nature center, which is where this obsession started. So we bought him a “Snakes of Georgia” poster, and a long time ago, I suggested we make a book about those snakes in the poster. One page per snake. (Little did I know I was silently feeding his interests.)
And this is where Brandon’s Herp Adventures come in. Because our routine with making this snake book includes letting my son watch a video about each snake, and as we started looking up videos, we came across Brandon’s videos quite often. Now I always search for one of his videos first because I know they’re good, and he’ll give good information. And I love how this young, amateur herpetologist/film maker has used the Internet to educate people. I think he’s a good role model for my son.
I wish Brandon posted an e-mail address so that I could write him and say thank you for his videos and let him know how much my six-year-old enjoys them. I also think he might enjoy viewing our own Backyard Adventure involving a black rat snake eating a squirrel!
Anyway, I can’t embed one of his videos, so I invite you to click on the above screen shot and go to his YouTube channel. If you have a budding herpetologist in your family, you won’t want to miss any of his stuff!
Be sure to check out the other posts in this series under the tag “Inspire Kids.” If my six-year-old likes it, then maybe your children will too!
Mama of Letters 
It is amazing the impact we can have on our children when we take the time to encourage their interests. Good for you!
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Thank you, Dianne!
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I will pass this on to my 9yo snake lover. It looks very interesting.
But as I type this comment, I have the screen scrolled down so I can’t see any of those pictures. 🙂
She’s desensitized me a bit over the years, but I have to admit her snake project was my least favorite of all the things we’ve done.
We’ll still be waiting to see your boy’s snake book!
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Michelle, Your comment made me laugh because snakes are definitely not an interest of mine either. And if you had told me years ago that one day I’d lay down five inches in front of a snake eating a squirrel to photograph it, I would NOT have believed you whatsoever. I’ve never been scared of snakes, but rather indifferent. (Now roaches will send me crawling up a wall! lol) My son has definitely given me a respect for these amazing creatures, but if it wasn’t for him, I would still have little interest in learning about them other than knowing which ones I needed to stay away from!
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I wrote about our gopher snake adventure at the link below and sharing with the hope that your son might enjoy my story. I am not trying to advertise my other blog, just share our enjoyment of these fascinating and odd creatures:
http://westvistaurbanfarmschool.blogspot.com/2009/05/gopher-snake-hands-on-natural-science.html
I can’t wait to see the book he’s working on. D
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Kristin, Thanks so much for sharing that! (Please share your blog posts with me!!) I read it and really enjoyed it, and I sent it to the six-year-old’s e-mail so that I can read it to him in the morning. Likewise, I was happy that the snake wasn’t hungry when that cute little mouse was in the box! Have you seen our Backyard Adventure with the squirrel?! Not appetizing at all, but I was relieved how the black rat snake killed the squirrel so swiftly and before he ate it! Thank you again!
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