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Go on a snail hunt in a garden, park or your school playground. Begin by thinking about where snails might be living.

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What type of habitat do snails prefer?

Choose some places to look and write them in a notebook. For example:

Snail

In a flowerbed On a wall or fence Under plant pots

On a lawn On play equipment Under rotting logs

Snail HuntUnder plant

pots Lawn

On a wall In a flowerbed

Now carefully look in the places you chose. In your notebook, record how many snails you see in each habitat. You can use tally marks like this:

Snails leave a clue that shows where they’ve been. Can you spot what it is?

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Snail Hunt ResultsDraw a graph and record your snail hunt results on the graph.

In which habitat did you find the most snails?

Describe the habitat. For example, is it damp, sunny, dry or dark?

Think about your results. What type of habitat do you think snails prefer?

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0

Num

ber

of s

nails

Snail habitats

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Design a Snail HabitatAre there snails living in your garden or school playground? If so, use what you’ve learned from your investigations to create a habitat for the snails.

Which part of the garden or playground will be a good place to build a habitat? Why do you think so? What kinds of materials do you think you could put in this spot to attract snails?

Answers: Snails prefer habitats that are dark, damp and cool. They also choose places to live where there is plenty of food, such as leaves and rotting plant material. One way to be sure that snails are

around is to look for their silvery, slimy trails. This slime helps snails stick to walls and other surfaces as they move around. When creating a snail habitat, choose a dark or shady area. An ideal habitat could be created from a stack of pebbles or pieces of rotting wood. Add leaves for food and keep the habitat

damp by sprinkling it with water. Hopefully some snail residents will soon move in!

Gather your materials and create your snail habitat.

Each day, check the habitat to find out if any snails have moved in. After one week, record your results.

Did any snails move into your habitat? If not, why do you think this is?

Write down all your observations and ideas.