MINI MONDAY: STACKING SNAILS

One…two…three…how many pieces of a shell can your snail carry? Practice recognizing the attributes and characteristics of different objects, and develop your numeracy skills as you create your own adorable, stackable snail!

Materials

• Cardstock
• Coloured Paper
• Markers
• Tape

Directions:

• Cut a large oval out of a piece of cardstock
• Fold the oval almost in half lengthwise, so that one side is a bit shorter than the other. Stand your folded oval up so that the longer side is the base (body), and the shorter side faces upright to create the head of your snail
• Cut two eyes out of cardstock. Tape them to the back of your snail’s head
• Use markers to colour your snail!
• Cut strips of coloured paper in various lengths/widths, and tape them together at the ends. These will form the pieces of your snail’s shell. For an easier time stacking, make the longer strips of paper thinner and the shorter strips of paper thicker (this will ensure that your smaller pieces are taller, making them easier to stack inside your larger pieces)
• Practice stacking the pieces of your snail’s shell on its back! Place the smaller pieces inside the larger ones
• As you’re stacking, practice counting how many pieces of your snail’s shell there are! Practice your sorting skills by identifying the different colours of paper used, as well as which pieces are bigger, smaller, shorter, and taller than others!

Keep the fun and learning going! Can you…

• Decorate the body of your snail with different shapes?
• Colour patterns on the different pieces of your snail’s shell?
• See how quickly you can stack all the pieces of your snail together?

ESSENTIAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Exploring Numeracy
Numeracy is the ability to understand and work with numbers. Early numeracy skills can include number recognition, counting, sorting, exploring patterns, and more! This week’s craft helps to support the development of early numeracy by ­­­­encouraging children to count the pieces of their snail’s shell as they put it together!

Recognizing Attributes and Characteristics
Did you know that sorting and classifying are important parts of early math development? By practicing recognizing the attributes and characteristics of objects, children will be able to use this information to later help them sort these objects into groups! This week’s craft helps children practice to recognize the attributes and characteristics of different objects by asking them to identify the colour and size of the pieces of the shell they place on their snail’s back!

Stay tuned for more resources to help spark kids’ creative learning!

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