Our children love to explore our outside environment when the weather is good. They have been enjoying exploring our gardens. The light drizzle in the mornings has given us the opportunity to find some friendly creatures that enjoy our gardens, like friendly snails. 

Our tamariki like to run straight to our gardens to look for some little friends that live there. They look under the leaves and even know to look in the dampest parts of the soil, where the snails especially love to hide. Children searched high and low to find something spectacular, and eventually, with enough teamwork, they ended up finding snails!

At first, they all agreed it was a mummy snail, a daddy snail, and a baby snail. One thing this group of tamariki has in common is they love their family and love to see and understand other creatures have families just like them. This is a great experience to make those whanau connections and extend their love and enjoyment of feeling closer to home.

Some of our bravest children weren't afraid to pick up the snail by the shell. Some got a bucket from the sandpit to carry our newly discovered snail family. "Now they can all be together," says one child. Another child replies, "Where is their home?" I reply, "The garden is where they like to sit, and the shell on their back is their home". Everyone was curious as to why the snails carried their home on their back. "That must be very heavy for them," replies one child, and everyone else agrees. 

Some of our children love to build things, and they suggest building a new home for the snails so they wouldn't get tired. Teachers explain to the children how snails love the outdoors and like being surrounded by nature. They like to live in dirt and plants. I saw their faces light up when they figured out they could gather materials from around the garden to make a new home for our snail family.

Some of the children suggest, "Let's make it in the sandpit so the wind doesn't make them cold." All of the children participated and gathered a variety of materials, such as sticks, leaves, flowers, stones, and shells. A few of the children helped build the snail home using the natural materials they had previously gathered. Children also gathered some of the sandpit toys and made a seesaw and a school for the baby snail. 

Later on in the afternoon, it started to rain, so we couldn't go back outside to see what the snail family was getting up to. Teachers print photos so the children can look back to see what awesome building creations they can make together. This led to lots of group discussions and boosted their problem-solving skills. Teachers support and provide resources for the children (on request) and let the children take the lead.