Banana Slug Craft
Slug! The tastiest looking slug of all time award goes to the Bruce the Banana Slug! These beauties are the second largest terrestrial slug in the world, growing up to 9.8 inches long and can travel pretty quickly through the forest undergrowth at around 16.5 cm per minute. Their habitats consist of Forest floors from Southeastern Alaska to Santa Cruz, CA and they often like to camp out under leaves!
Although characterized by its bright yellow hue, the Banana Slug is also found with dark brown/black spots which give it the appearance of an overripe Banana…There goes Bruce, trying to impersonate a banana again!
If you’re living or teaching in a place without many slugs, try making some paper banana slugs (as seen above – simply cut out snail shape, draw on a face, attach googly eyes, and use glue for his shiny, slimy trail!) or gather some supplies and try this fun Snail Craft with your kids! They are cute and can help explain the difference between snails and slugs: SnaiLS have ShelLS : )
What you will need:
• Pipe Cleaner
• Googly Eyes
• Glue
• Small pompoms (Optional)
What you will need:
- Start by bending a single pipe cleaner into a spiral shape.
- Leave your tail end in a straight line and bend it back to twist around and attach to your shell spiral. This will form the body of your snail.
- Take a smaller piece of pipe cleaner, bend in half, and twist around the “head” of your snail body to attach to make eye antennas.
- Then add the eyes! Glue googly eyes to two small pompoms and let dry. Then glue eye eyeball pompom to the ends of your antennas.
- Finally, find a place for your snail! Glue it to a pin and make an adorable broach, attach to a pencil for decoration using an additional piece of pipe cleaner, or glue to a chop stick and place your snail in the garden!
The funny and interesting look of the Banana slug has made it a popular animal and the University of Santa Cruz in California has even made it their official mascot. Now that’s some slug love! If you still aren’t feeling the love, you could always dress up like a giant banana slug and do a tribute dance….
