Molluscs: The Study of Snails (Part One)

We've been seeing a lot of snails in our place and I just couldn't let this pass :)  So I paid a visit to the library and borrowed a few books about it so we could do a little study on them.  We've never done this before as I am really scared of anything that crawls, but my son was into it and excited so I just have to give in.

Materials:

Books about Snails.  Here I used Slugs and Snails (Minibeast Pets) and Snail (Bug Books). (Affiliates)

Snail Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet by The Pinay Homeschooler.  Click the image below for the link as well.

A snail.  We got this tiny fellow in one of our nature walks.

Activity 1:   In search of a snail

Prior to our lesson, we've been reading books and learned about where the snails live and when do they usually come out from their hiding.  So one day, after the rain, we set out to look for a snail that we can bring home.  We followed what the book said: look for snails in dark places, under the rocks, the bushes or if in a surface that is wet or damp.  It was fun looking for them and educational as well.  My son knows exactly where to look for them!

              

 Activity 2: Observing the Snail

Once we have our snail, we put it in a tube (Safari Toob tube LOL) and brought it home for an observation.  My son named the little fellow Sally.  Seen on pictures below, we watched as Sally fed on the leaves, see how she moves and produces a slime to slide.

               

Below we read about the lifecycle of a snail.

 

Activity 3:  Parts of the Snail (Introductory)

At this point in time, we looked at the different parts of the snail.  Mavi was more keen on the body parts as he kept on asking about the eyes of the snail.  We used our snail 3-part cards in identifying the different parts of its body and read our booklet on how each of the parts function.  I like how our nomenclature cards turned out.  Before, I used to draw images but I love that we're using pictures for a more realistic approach.  And at first I kept on questioning the size of our cards but I'm happy that I made it  3.5x4 inches, just enough for everything to be seen.

 

We stopped here.  There were a few more activities left for us to do but I can see that he was already tired.  We will continue this next week as we also study the world of insects.

The study of snail, as I mentioned earlier was something new and the fact that we've been seeing them everywhere helped in building up that eagerness to learn.  He was really curious with this slimy creature and was very attentive in our discussions.  It also helped that we read books about snails beforehand for a head start.

Our snail study did not end here, you can check the second part of our activity here (Molluscs: The Study of Snails Part Two).

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Natural Resources and their Products

Another extension to our continent unity study is learning about the natural resources that are mined or abundant in certain parts of the world.  This is a new topic that I introduced to Mavi and he definitely loved it.  He was very interested in learning about the products of each continent, what they look like as raw materials and how these materials are processed so the people can use them.

Fun Under the Sun

If you are wondering what we're doing when the sun is up, here's a glimpse.

First I would take the boys in our backyard and do some little picnic.  The little one stays on his Mamas & Papas Baby Snug (Green) and plays with me.

Now for the big brother it's a little bit different.  Here you see him playing with his "fossil collections".   These are actually rocks in the yard that he gathered.  The Dinosaur Train inspired him to collect "fossils".  So these rocks are now piled in the yard.

 

After he checks his collection, I made him do some splatter painting.  A few days ago, I was telling him the story of Pollack, of how he paints using splatters.  After that we watched this video of a little girl who's famous of her painting.

 

Now that he is inspired, it's time to put his artistic side to action :)

             

Oh boy, how he love it!!  We just have to move to the grass though because it's getting messier.

Go out and enjoy nature!

The weather was really really good this holiday weekend so we spent most of our time in the park.  We're so thankful that we have this wonderful park just 10 minutes away from our place.  The park is HUGE and lots of areas to explore. 

If you skim through my blog... this is where we usually go when the weather is good.  I am an outdoor person and was an adventurous kid growing up. I grow up in a tropical country and our house is near the beach so imagine all the adventures I have there. And my boys experience this as well.  But living in a cold country has a lot of limitations especially here that we seldom have Mr Sun.

So in a time like this we just have to go out...

... and play with the trees!

.... and check the pond for tadpoles and other insects breeding!

.... and see how the clear water flows in the creek.