Our bright idea - Slithering snails

Staff at Rainbow Nursery provide children with a wealth of opportunities for exploring the natural world, and their giant African land snails are a great favourite.

As they handle and care for the snails the children are learning at first hand about life processes.

Planned learning intentions

To show care and concern for others, for living things and the environment

To use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events

To show an awareness of similarities in shapes in the environment

To find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe

To recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this

To explore and experience using a range of senses and movement

RESOURCES

Plastic tank; multipurpose compost; bark; water spray for plants; green leaves such as lettuce, cabbage, spinach; fruit; chopped vegetables; giant African land snails (we obtained ours from a local secondary school but many online sites supply them, such as www.exotic-pets.co.uk); cuttlefish (obtainable at pet shops); non-fiction books about snails - for example, Are you a snail? by Judy Allen (Kingfisher Books) and Snails by Monica Hughes (Heinemann, Little Nippers); magnifying glasses

STEP BY STEP

- Our children were fascinated by the snails in our garden, often bringing them indoors to draw and observe with magnifying glasses. We decided to extend their knowledge by encouraging them to care for three giant African land snails.

- First, we asked them what our new arrivals might need to ensure that they had a safe home and plenty to eat and drink. We looked at books and websites together to encourage more detailed thinking.

- We decided that an old fish tank with a lid would make a good home because we could watch the snails through the sides. Our book suggested putting cocoa fibre at the bottom of the tank, but we discovered that multipurpose compost worked just as well.

- Pictures in books showed the snails eating green leaves and fruit, so we made a list of things we might give them. Our kitchen supplied most of the food needed, supplemented by children's donations.

- Books explained that a cuttlefish bone would provide snails with the calcium they needed for their growing shells. We bought this from the pet shop. We also bought a plant spray as the snails needed to be sprayed with water daily.

- There was great excitement when our snails arrived, so we limited the children to just observing the snails in their tank initially, explaining that they needed to settle down in their new home.

- As time has passed, the children have proved to be great carers. They feed and spray the snails daily, and take turns to help staff clean the tank. They have decided by observation which foods the snails like and dislike. Our snails have become very tame and seem to enjoy being handled.

- We have recorded what children say as they handle the snails and this has helped us to demonstrate to parents the value of 'hands on' experiences. Here are just a few of the comments:

My snail went to sleep on my hand. It looks comfy.

It was very tickly moving about.

It felt all slavery.

It is mucky with rolling in the soil.

This one is the smallest. The other two are the same (size).

This snail likes cucumber best.

Oh, it's pooed on my hand!

- We interact with the children to encourage them to observe distinguishing features, such as the long foot and hard spiral shell, and refer to the non-fiction books for more detail. We have had fun investigating how snails breathe, eat, move and sleep.

- The snails are part of our nursery life now. Observing them has helped the children to provide their own learning opportunities across all areas of the curriculum. Among other things, we have drawn and painted snails, created glittery snail collages, moved like snails and read stories about them.

Karen Crawford is the manager at Rainbow Nursery, Middleston Moor, Co Durham. She spoke to Jean Evans.