Snail Patterns

The Year One children became ‘artists’ and thought about the question – Can we create a pattern from clay?
The children watched a presentation about insects, spiders and snails. The children discussed how many legs each creature had. They discussed the snail had one large flat foot and discussed that the snail had a shell. The children were asked to look and think about the patterns on the shells. The children created their own snail shell patterns in their sketch books. They were then given a ball of clay which they rolled into a snake and then coiled it in to a snail shell. The children were introduced to the word etching – scratching at a surface, and they were told this technique can be used to create a pattern, like the ones on the snail shells. The children used a cocktail stick to etch their pattern on to their clay snail shell. Great etching Kingfishers.