Snail Toddler Craft

We finally did our last color-theme animal craft for our One Year Old Preschool unit on colors – a snail toddler craft!  The last color/animal is a purple snail and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Here is what we did:

Materials (with affiliate links):

• purple construction paper
• brown construction paper
• blue construction paper
• glue stick (we used washable)
• googly eyes

Procedure:

1. Cut circles out of the purple construction paper.  You will need a large (about 5 inches), a medium (about 3.5 inches), and a small (about 1 inch).  Also cut out a small rectangle and cut it in half to make two thin rectangles (these are the eye sockets).
2. Cut circles out of the blue construction paper.  You will need a medium (about 3.75 inches) and a small (about 1.25 inch).
3. Cut a circle out of the brown construction paper.  You will need about a 4 inch circle. Cut the circle in half.
4. Glue one half the brown circle to the bottom back of the large purple circle.  Glue the other half of the brown circle to the back and side of the purple circle, overlapping the other brown semi-circle. (see picture).

With your toddler:

• Glide a layer of glue over the purple circle and have your toddler place the larger blue circle on top.  Add another layer of glue to the top and have your toddler place the medium purple circle on top.  Repeat with remaining circles, working in descending size order.
• Glue the purple eye sockets to the side brown semicircle and have your little one attach the googly eyes.

This sounds like a complicated craft, but it is honestly very easy to complete with your little one.  I also love that the circles are not perfectly centered. When your little one does it, it will be unique to them.

Vocabulary and concepts we worked on with this craft: circle shapes, gluing, pressing down, pushing, snail, colors.

Please feel free to use any of these ideas and share them with others.  If you do the craft, please let me know.  I would love to get feedback from others who tried them with their toddlers.