It rained for the first time since our move and we learned something new about San Diego – when it rains snails come out.

Maybe you’re super unimpressed because this is just common knowledge to you, but where I grew up earth worms wiggle out of the dirt when it rains.

My kids however were super impressed.

They spotted the snails first. They were everywhere. On the wall of our porch. On the sidewalks and driveways. On the ground in our garden.

Not being one who particularly enjoys things that wiggle and squirm, I was not super umm excited about this discovery.

My kids however were SO excited.

I’ve learned, after years of learning through adventure with my twins, that it is best to embrace these moments – even when I’m not super excited about the theme – because the best learning happens in these natural learning opportunities. 

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If this seems like something that would interest your kids or if you too find snails pouring out of their hiding spots after a rainfall, then this unit will point you in the right direction so you can make the most of this opportunity.

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Snails Unit for First Graders

Snail Field Trip

So if you live in an area where there are snails head outside to a garden area and see if you can spot some.

Our snails in San Diego like to crawl right out onto the sidewalks when it rains. My friends in the UK spot them in their bushes.

Wherever you find them, show your kids how to gently observe them and then put them back where they were found.

I started by pulling out our bug adventure kits to give them some tools to observe the snails.

read also: adventure supplies i can’t live without

There is no doubt that seeing the real thing and having it sit in your hand or crawl on your arm offers so much sensory information that you can’t get from seeing a picture.

Activity Ideas

Snails were completely new to us – again you may not be impressed but that was our starting point.

So, what is a snail?

Snail is a common name loosely applied to shelled gastropods.

We learned later that there are more kinds of snails – but more on that in a bit.

Literacy Activities

In our bug kit are these cute little field note clipboards and they inspired some self directed writing about their findings. (Note: I made a copies of the little page – only one is included per set).

Activity for Later:

• Read The Snail & The Whale and then retell the story with this Story Telling Wheel from Rainy Day Mum.
• Read more books about snails – these were our favorites.

Art Activities

• Also related to the book THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE you can make this cute Movable Paper Plate Craft from Crafts on Sea. My kids used this like a puppet show.

STEM Activities

To me, one of the most important science skills for this age group is learning to slow down and carefully observe something.

They made little welcoming habitats for the snails and put a couple in these bug jars. They based their habitats off of the environment in the gardens where they were found which I thought was some good problem solving.

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They also used magnifying glasses to look closely at the snail’s bodies and shells.

The data recording forms asked how big the subject was, so they went inside to find a ruler and started measuring their snails.

MORE IDEAS

• How Animals Eat Their Food: Exploring Macroinvertebrates from JDaniel 4’s Mom
• Study snail anatomy and more fun facts from Preschool Powol Packets
• Learn about Snail habitats, spirals and more with these awesome activities from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes.

Applying Our Snail Knowledge

About a week after we had found our snails, read about snails and explored a lot of the activities linked above, we learned something new.

There are sea snails.

My twins had the opportunity to go to the Birch Aquarium to learn more about animals that live in tide pools.

They were delighted and surprised to find out that Sea Snails are one of those animals.

It was fun to watch them apply their snail knowledge to their sea relatives when they talked about their anatomy and other adaptations.

They were confident scientists and proud to share what they knew. To me, it was such a cool example of the amazing power of providing kids the time and materials needed to follow their random interests on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Isn’t it cool how simple and empowering an easy learning opportunity can be?