Snail Artists!!!

 
This week we had unusual artists painting in our classroom, SNAILS! It’s true! I saw this on a blog a long time ago and I thought it was so cool. Thanks Filth Wizardry for this idea! Here is the link to the original idea on Filthy Wizardry blog. http://www.filthwizardry.com/2008/05/snail-painting.html 

Last week when I found one snail right outside my doorstep I knew we had to do this project, (well I live in Africa) so I talk to my gardener and he was on the lookout for more snails. The next day he found three more. That was all I needed.

First the children observed the snails and we read about them. We also drew them and talked about our observations. They are really fascinating animals.

We dipped them in food coloring like I read in the blog and just let them do their walk. It was a lot of fun watching them.  The children were helping me choose were to place the snails.

They were faster than we predicted!

  

It was not only fun to watch them but kind of soothing as they were just sliding on the paper unaware of the beauty they were creating. 

And below is the final snail artwork.

The children also commented on how the snails were alike and different. We ordered them by size and one child said , "Maybe they are even a family with a father, mother big brother and a baby". Who knows, maybe they are.

After a good shower they went back to the box and then back to the garden!