What is a Snail?
Snails, along with slugs, and whelk belong to a group of invertebrates (animals without backbones) called gastropods, and gastropods belong to a larger group called mollusks, which includes snails, slugs, clams, muscles, squids, and octopuses. Snails live through out the world. They can be found from the far northern and southern oceans to the equatorial regions. There are snails that live on land and snails that live in fresh and salt water.
Snails have a hard outer shell that is big enough for the entire snail to hide inside. They slide around on a muscle like foot and most of their organs are found inside the shell. Land snails have two sets of tentacles on their heads. The upper set has eyes at the tips. The lower set is for olfaction (smelling).
Fun Facts About Snails
-Snails are related to shellfish.
-The world's smallest snail is .03 inches tall, small enough to fit through the eye of a needle.
-Garden snails move at a top speed of about half an inch a minute
-There are around 43,000 species of snails
-The first snails evolved around 550 million years ago. They've been around a really long time!
-Snails live just about everywhere and can be found on land and in both fresh and salt water.
-The largest snail is the giant whelk, they can grow a shell length of over 27 inches!
-While most snails are harmless, some snails are venomous.
Watercolor Snail Craft
For this activity you will need:
-a piece of white paper
-a piece of colored construction paper
-scissors
-school glue (not paste)
-watercolors
-a paint brush
-a pen or pencil
Start by tracing a large circle onto the white piece of paper. We traced a cereal bowl. Then cut it out.
Use the school glue to make a large spiral on the white piece of paper and set it aside to dry.
While the glue is drying, draw and cut out a sort of banana shape with tentacles on one end from your sheet of construction paper. This will be the body of your snail.
Add a black dot for an eye on each tentacle, and draw a smiling mouth below the tentacles. Then set the body aside for a few minutes while you complete the shell.
When the glue on the white circle is dry, paint over the whole circle with watercolors. The dry glue should sort of repel the paint, leaving your shell with a cool spiral.
When the watercolors are dry, glue the shell onto the back of the snail body.
Snail Slime Experiment
Snails produce a slimy mucus which coats their bodies. In addition to serving as a lubricant to help the snail move smoothly over surfaces, a snail's mucus also provides protection from the outside environment and helps prevent the snail from desiccation (drying out).
You can demonstrate how this works with the following hands-on science activity:
You will need: a kitchen sponge cut in half, some slime (we used borax slime), some water, a sunny place, and a clock.
Get both halves of your sponge damp with water. Coat one sponge with slime. Set both in a sunny spot and check on them at regular time intervals (we checked on ours every 30 minutes).
Observe what happens to the sponges over time. Which one will dry out faster?
The sponge coated in slime should stay moist longer than the one without. This is because the slime serves as a protective layer and prevents water molecules from being able to evaporate as quickly. This is the same way that snail mucus helps prevent a snail's soft tissues from drying out!
Snail Habitat Project
I normally don't recommend keeping animals that you come across in the wild, because wild animals just don't belong in captivity, but I make an exception for snails. Snails are incredibly easy to care for and actually make pretty cool little pets.
To set up a snail habitat you will need:
-A small glass or plastic terrarium (5-10 gallons) make sure it has a tight fitting lid and plenty of ventilation
-Some sort of chemical free substrate for the bottom of your tank like terrarium soil or coconut fiber.
-A spray bottle
-2 disposable plastic cups
-A few garden snails: check your yard after a rainstorm
Start by spreading your substrate across the bottom of your terrarium. You want it about an inch thick.
Dampen the substrate with the spray bottle. You'll want to gently spray the tank several times a day to maintain a good humidity level in your terrarium.
Cut one cup about a half an inch from the bottom all the way around to make a shallow water dish for your snails.
Cut the second cup into a little hide cave for your snails. We made ours by flipping a plastic cup upside down and cutting a small doorway out of it.
Add rocks, sticks, or even plants to make the terrarium more homey for your snails. Limestone rocks are great if you can find any because they also provide a calcium source for your snails.
Finding snails for your habitat:
Check your yard or garden right after a rainstorm or early in the morning when the grass is still damp from the morning dew. Look behind and underneath leaves of plants growing low to the ground or climbing up trees. We often find them hiding inside the ivy that climbs one of our trees.
Feeding your snails:
Garden snails are herbivores and eat most fruits and vegetables. Avoid acidic fruits like the citrus family. Be sure to offer lots of vegetables high in calcium (snails need it to maintain their shells) like kale, spinach, and collard greens. Snails also love cucumbers, apples, and carrots. Slice vegetables and fruit into thin slices for your snails once a day. Remove any uneaten food the next morning.
Also be sure to give them fresh water each day!
Additional Resources for Learning About Snails
-Facts About Snails for Kids from DK Find Out
-Snails, Slug, and Slime! Video from SciShow Kids
-Super Sized Snail! Video from Brave Wilderness
If you enjoyed this post check out:
-How a Caterpillar Becomes a Butterfly
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