Slowly Goes the Snail

In nature the snail is kinda slimy.  But...in picture books the snail is really adorable!  I found a book that involved two cute snails and was inspired to do an entire storytime around the little critters.  This is one of my favorite picture books. I know I've mentioned it before; The Secret by Lindsay Barrett George. The illustrations are large and the detail on each page leads to interesting comments as the children notice things meaningful to each of them. Mr. and Miss Snail are precious!  I used them as a basis for my flannel pieces. The other book I use with this theme is Hi Harry!; The Moving Story of How One Slow Tortoise Slowly Made a Friend by Martin Waddell. The children are really empathetic towards Harry as he tries to make friends but has no success.  When Harry meets Sam Snail they all perk up and are pleased that he has found a good friend to play with!
The classic fingerplay Garden Snail is essential when I do this theme!  The contrast between verses of the slow snail and the quick mouse is a lot of fun. With older preschoolers I like to point out that they are opposites. I have another sweet little rhyme about Sammy Snail that is fun too. I have a beanie baby snail that I use as a prop when I do this rhyme.
Here's my 5 Whatsits snail rhyme. I can't remember where I got it...I've had it a long time.

This Little Snail
This little snail peeked in the door,
This little snail slid across the floor.
This little snail came out to play,
This little snail slid slowly away.
This little snail said, "Dear me, dinner is over and now it's time for tea!".
This little rhyme gave me an excuse to make 5 cute little snails. I used felt and embellished them with slick, black fabric paint and little pearl beads for eyes at the end of the little stalks.
I've thought of a couple of ideas to add to this storytime with ideas from Flannel Friday posts.  Either this one by Kari Ann at My Storytime Life or a take on the Little Mouse hiding in the color house game.  I've also thought about making up a color snail rhyme and let the children put matching colored snails on the flannelboard.  I'm thinking laminated cardstock snails might be the way to go for that.

I found a really cute paper plate and tissue paper squares snail craft from a Pinterest post too!  Snails are lots of Fun With Friends at Storytime!