Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab Unit Study Activities

I am a big fan of Eric Carle and A House for Hermit Crab is one of my favorite of his books. The book follows a hermit crab on his search for a new and larger shell home, and his quest to make it unique and beautiful. The book is full of beautiful colored illustrations, and creatures. This was a super fun mini unit study for us to do.  We read the book and over 3 days we had a couple fun activities, an art project, and some awesome themed snacks.

We spent a good part of one day doing activities related to hermit crabs and our book choice.  First we read the book, and then  I surprised the kids with a trip to the pet store to check out the hermit crabs, we talked about their environment at the pet store, how was it the same or different from their natural habitat. We of course made a visit to every animal in the pet store.  We talked about their habitats and how they got around- ie..hermit crab walked, the rabbits hop, fish swim,etc…

We ended up bringing a pair of hermit crabs home for the kids.  I already had some gear on hand like a large “cage”, seashell dishes, and a water sponge from one we had before so all we needed  in addition to our  crab was a bag of sand for the base, and some crab food.  Crabs are pretty easy to care for -All you have to do to care for crabs is keep a shallow seashell with food available-dried shrimp, and a sponge full of water (we have to refill ours daily as the sand dries it out) at all times, clean out their cage- I recommend once a week, and provide them a couple shells slightly larger then their current one for when they are ready to move on to a bigger shell. They are quite fun to watch.

If you are interested in starting your own hermit crab habitat here is a great starter kit that includes everything you will need, and it even includes certificates to send in for 2 live crabs.

Do you have any great great A House for hermit Crab activity ideas?