SURFING SNAILS FLOATING CRAFT 💛 Lucky Mary Sunshine

Surf’s up! Did you guys know there are such things as actual surfing snails?! I first learned about them while watching Octonauts (Honestly, Octonauts is where I get most of my animal knowledge!) Real surfing snails ride the waves on a self-made raft of mucus. Eew, right? But we’ve managed to come up with a much less snotty version that actually floats on water! These snails are guaranteed to keep your kids entertained for hours! (Or at least long enough to enjoy a cup of coffee.)

Not only are the guys adorable…they are the perfect STEAM craft to get your kids hypothesizing. Because cork and foam are less dense than water, they are able to float. These materials are filled with tiny pockets of air, making them very buoyant. But what would happen if you put something heavier on the surfboard? Can you find 3 other things around your house that you think will float? Can you create your own “sink or float” experiment using only things from your kitchen? Ask your kiddos these questions and watch their curiosity grow. But first…let’s make some snails!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

champagne cork (cut in half)
googly eyes
glue (hot glue gun works best)
paint and paintbrush
scissors
ruler
toothpicks or thin wooden skewars
paint pens
craft foam sheets
foam board

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LET’S CREATE!

1. THIS STEP NEEDS TO BE DONE CAREFULLY BY AN ADULT. Using a sharp knife, cut your champagne cork in half longways.

2. Cut two toothpicks or wooden skewers into 1-2 inch lengths. Use the pointy ends to push into the top of the cork where the snails eyes/ antennae will go.

3. Give your snail a base coat of white paint. This step is optional, but the white base will help your other colors pop when you paint the final coat. Let this coat of paint dry.

4. Paint the snail your favorite color. Don’t forget to give your snail it’s own personality. You can add stripes, polka dots, hearts, whatever. Have fun and make it your own!

5. Use your ruler to measure and cut 2 strips of craft foam from 2 different colors. They should be about half an inch wide and about 6 inches long.

6. Stack them on top on each other and trim a tiny bit from one end of the foam on top. This will be the “inside” color swirl, and trimming it helps them line up after it is rolled.

7. Roll them together tightly and use hot glue on the end to create a snail shell.

8. Glue googly eyes to the front of the antennae and glue the shell to the top of the cork. Congratulations! You now have a snail!

9. Use the surfboard template to trace and cut out the surfboard shape from foam board. If your foam board has a paper coating, peel it off. (You can soak it in water to loosen the paper if it doesn’t peel easily.)

10. Paint your surfboard and use paint pens to add details. The paint and paint pens should be pretty waterproof, but you can also add a clear coat of fingernail polish to make it extra durable.

11. Fill up the sink or bathtub and make some waves for these daredevil dudes

The next time you are at the ocean, be sure to keep an eye out for any tiny mollusks riding high on the waves. But in the meantime, we hope your littles enjoy hanging ten with these surge-searching snails. And if these guys get lonely, jump on over to meet their cousins, the Tape Measure Snails. They are sure to have a blast together!