A Home for Snails: Nature with Toddlers

I love creatures. And I want my little ones to love creatures, too.

This is why I was delighted to find my little Will enthralled with some tiny friends he found when we lifted the lid off his sandbox.

A colony of itty-bitty snails had set up housekeeping in the damp sand, and we spent a long time just watching them inch around and poke their little heads in and out of their shells.

And thanks to the power of the Internet, I was able to do a quick search for DIY snail habitats and found just the post I was looking for at The Artful Life: Creating a Snail Habitat. I’ll let you hop over there for the full tutorial, but I can assure you it was super easy. Luckily, we had just come to the end of a container of strawberries, so we had the perfect container to upcycle. Then we added sand to the bottom of the container and used rocks, leaves, and sticks from the yard to create a landscape with ample places for the snails to hide. Our water container is a piece from a Little People set.

We have been feeding the snails fruits and veggies from our kitchen, and it has been fun to see which ones have been the most popular. So far, strawberries have been the favorite by far. Will and Sydney love to go check on the snails (“say-duls”) in their “ha-di-tat,” and Mimi brought us some little magnifying glasses from the Dollar Spot at Target that have been perfect for viewing them up close.

I think part of the reason the twins are so into our snail study is because of a little rhyme/fingerplay we learned in music class:

(Chanting slowly and evenly while walking fingers up child’s arm)

Slowly, slowly, very slowly

Creeps the garden snail.

Slowly, slowly, very slowly

Up the wooden rail.

(Chanting as fast as you can and tickling your little one!)

Quickly-quickly-very-quickly runs the little mouse.

Quickly-quickly-very-quickly in his little house!

- classic children’s poem, author unknown

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