Limpets and Garden Snails

Today we read the story Sally and the Limpet.  After the story we explored this fascinating little sea creature.  We found out that Limpets are small sea snails with a cone shaped shell.  They have a soft body which they use to  stick themselves to rocks.  This stops them from being washed away by strong waves and protects them from predators.

 

We talked about other animals that grip onto rocks such as starfish, anemones and sea urchins.

 

We thought the sea urchins looked like underwater hedgehogs because they were round and spikey.

 

 

When we looked closely at the picture of the Limpet we thought that they looked the same as a garden snail.

 

 

We went on a ‘Snail Hunt’ in the nature area and searched high and low.  Eventually, we found 2 snails hiding in the wet grass.

 

   

 

        

 

We brought them back into the classroom and talked about the similarities and differences between the Garden Snail and the Limpet Sea Snail.

Same

They both have shells.

They both have tentacles and eyes.

They are both sticky.

They both look slimey.

They both have a body.

Different

Different shaped shells.

One shell is curly and one shell is spikey.

 

So that we could see how they use their body to stick to things and move around, we put it onto a piece of plastic and looked from underneath.

 

  

 

   

 

 

We watched the snails moving around for a short while and then returned them to the outdoor area where they belong.

 

 

One cheeky snail tried to climb out of the tub.