Grid based, snake-like game question.

I have an idea for a simple snake like game and I am stumped on the best approach for the main component, the snake. Unlike the typical snake games where the snake "grows" as it eats, I want my snake to be full sized from the start.

Picture the snake in a hole and only his head is showing. As the player moves the head through the grid, the rest of the body will follow. Here is a picture to help (warning programmer art). http://i.imgur.com/LrfaPhN.png

The head starts at the blue "hole". The player hits left to put the snake in motion. Then down, etc. and the body follows along from out of the "hole".

What is the best approach to accomplish this? The only idea I have come up with is adding the body sprites behind the head and as the head is moving the body part will be revealed. I just feel like getting the timing right and getting the desired effect will be more work than necessary. This just doesn't feel like the right approach to me.

Ideally I would like something similar to the game Flow Free if anyone is familiar with that but where once the movement is started it is continuously in motion.

If anyone has any advice, links, or questions to better understand my problem, please share.

 

I would recommend taking a look at http://www.starscenesoftware.com/vectrosity.html, it works great for me in a more complex scenario