Snails

We started with some twinkl activity sheets, which the children glued into their nature journals.

The kids then coloured in a picture of a snail with watercolour pencils.  They enjoyed blending different colours and seeing what happened when they added water.  

One child found an article about the Cuban painted snail in an old edition of ‘The Week Junior’, which he chose to copy. 

We took turns to read aloud ‘The Snail’, a poem by William Cowper.

We had a look at Matisse’s snail and found out a bit about him as an artist using a book from my favourite collection of children’s books on artists –  The Little Artist series by Catherine de Duve.

Then the children built snail models out of Lego, while listening to an audiobook – ‘The Adventurous Snail’ by Dick King-Smith.

Finally, it was time to go out snail hunting. We looked in nooks and crannies and found a few different specimens to observe. One was lucky enough to be brought home and put in our snailery.

First, we found a pot that had holes in the top. We added soil and sticks, and gave it a good spray of water. Then we added a small plastic lid full of water and some rocks. We ground up eggshells, adding a sprinkle to make sure the snail had enough calcium to keep its shell hard. Finally, we found out what type of snail we had and discovered what they like to eat. It turns out our pet is partial to cucumber and buttercups!