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- Food coloring or Liquid Watercolors
- Several small, shallow containers (one for each color you plan to use)
- Paper (a large sheet of butcher paper works best)
- Snails
- Magnifying Glass
(optional)
(optional)
This activity is easy peasy. Simply fill you containers with water and add food coloring to desired shade. Gently dip a snail into the color and place it on the paper. Let the snails go nuts.
Look at how much fun they are having! OK, I don't know if snails even have the concept of fun, but it sure looks that way.
The more snails you have the more colorful your art will be, but you don't want too many, unless multiple kids are involved, because they can be difficult to herd.
- Make sure you talk to your kids about being gentle with creatures great and small. It's fun to explore but we don't want any casualties.
- If you have one, encourage children to use a magnifying glass to view the snails and study them.
- Yes, sometimes snails poop on their art and on little hands. No biggie, simply wipe it up and wash your hands. Wash after releasing the snails too!
- Please release your snails...or feed them to a box turtle; they love them!
. It's about bugs. If you have a child who LOVES bugs, this is perfect. There's very little talking; only some at the beginning. The rest is visual. It's bugs in a meadow: ants, snails, caterpillars, beetles, water skis, etc. and they are doing what bugs do. The ants collect food and battle, a dung beetle attempts to move a big ball of poo up a hill, and the caterpillars eat leaves. It sounds mundane, but it's visually stunning. My son fought me tooth and nail when I suggested watching it, but loved it by the end. I found it stunning. 
