Things to do with Shells and Snails

Collecting Different Types of Shells
Start your own shell collection! Pick up empty shells from the seashore, woods, parks, gardens, ponds and streams. At the seashore, look for shells on the beach, around rocks, wood, and seaweed. On land, look in shady damp places, around tree roots, and in rotted wood, or under leaf litter. Around streams and rivers, look for shells on plants that are along the shoreline. Garage sales can also be good places to look for shells! How many different types of shells can you find?

Snails that are already dead when you find them will be easier to clean and usually will not smell.

You can make a display box from a shoebox or shoebox lid, and label each shell with where you found it. Clean dirty shells with an old toothbrush and water. A little bit of baby oil can make many shells shiny.

Go to a museum or nature center that has a shell collection. See the wide variety of shells and how they display them. Visit a shell club or shell show to get ideas.

Libraries can be a great place to learn about shells. Read a shell book. Pick one shell that you found and try to find the same kind in the book. What is its name? What does the animal eat? Where does it live? How big does it get? Why is the shape of its shell a good shape (or design) for where the animal lives?

Watch Live Snails
During the day, most live land snails are under rocks and pieces of wood. At night they come out to eat, especially if it is damp from a recent rain. Along a seashore, big rocks away from the surf are usually good places to look for live snails.

To observe live snails, get a jar and put things inside that make it look like the kind of place where you found the shell. If it came from the woods or under a rock, put some damp soil and a hiding place for the snail, along with a few kinds of leaves for it to eat. If it came from a rock along the shoreline, put it in a jar with some sea water, sand and a rock. Put a piece of cloth over the lid and seal it with a rubber band. NEVER leave the jar in the sunlight, even for a few minutes.

If you find land snails, you can try an experiment to see what kind of food they like to eat best. Put pieces of several different kinds of leaves in the jar with the snail. Small vegetable pieces such as carrot and lettuce can also be added. Which ones do they like to eat the most?

Snail Race!
Take a large piece of paper and draw the biggest circle that will fit on the paper. Then draw a little circle in the middle. Place a few land snails in the little circle and watch which one crosses the big circle first.

When you let your snails go, a little spot of paint can be put on the shells of a few snails. Go back the next day and see if you can find your snails. Even if you don't want to race snails, you can paint a small number or mark on some wild snails to keep track of them. Feed them vegetable scraps in a shady, moist place.

Hatching Snail Eggs
Eggs from land snails are usually white and found under rocks, wood or rotting leaves on the ground. Carefully collect the eggs with some soil and put them in a jar, covered by a cloth and sealed with a rubber band. Leave the jar in a closet or other mostly cool dark place. Wait a week or two for the eggs to hatch. Add a small amount of water to the jar if it looks like it is getting very dry, but don’t make the soil too wet.

When the eggs hatch, give them a bit of spinach or lettuce to eat. After watching them for a week or so, take them to the place that you found them and let them go.

Watching Snails in an Aquarium
Many pet shops have snails that make a nice addition to an aquarium. The "Apple" or "Mystery" snail is one freshwater kind of snail that can be very entertaining to watch. Feed the snails a little fish food and cooked vegetables such as spinach. Take out any food that the snails do not eat in one day.