Who hides under a stone?

Have you ever helped a grown-up lift a stone in the garden? Feel how cool the stone is in your hands. Underneath, the soil smells fresh and earthy. And something down there starts to wriggle!

Small creatures scurry this way and that. So who hides under a stone? And what makes that spot such a good hiding place?

Look closely at a small grey creature with lots of legs. It is a woodlouse, a tiny crawler with a hard, bumpy back. It lives in gardens, under stones and old logs.

Now think about the stone itself. The sun shines on top of it all day. But the stone covers the ground, so the sun and wind cannot dry the soil below. The soil under the stone stays damp, which means a little bit wet.

A woodlouse needs damp ground. Out in the hot sun, its body dries out fast. Under the stone, the woodlouse stays cool and comfy. Who else do you think loves a damp hiding place?

An earthworm does! A worm's soft skin must stay damp, or the worm cannot breathe. So it wriggles into the damp soil under the stone.

A slug hides there too. A slug has no shell to keep it wet, so the sun dries it out. Under the stone, the slug stays damp and cool.

A shiny black beetle crawls under the stone as well. Its little body dries out in the hot sun too. So it rests in the cool, damp dark all through the sunny day. Now the stone is full of hiders!

Woodlouse, damp. The stone keeps the ground damp, so woodlice, worms, slugs and beetles hide underneath.

Sleep tight, and dream of the cosy world hiding under a stone.