Barnaby Fits Them Snug

Barnaby is a snug little barnacle who loves things to fit JUST right. No wobbles. No spaces. Snug!

When the tide-pool friends build the cove, Barnaby is the one who checks that every tile fits nice and close to its neighbours. “Snug!” he says, patting a tile into place. “No gaps! Fit them together tight!”

One day a tile was set a little crooked, with a gap beside it - a little empty space where nothing fit. “Ooh,” said Barnaby. “A gap! Let’s fix it.” And he wiggled the tile over, gently, until it fit snug against the next one. Click! No more gap.

“There!” Barnaby beamed. “Now they fit together with no space between. See how smooth the floor is? When every tile fits snug against its friends, the whole cove is one smooth, cozy floor - no bumps, no holes, no lonely gaps.”

The tiles in Barnaby’s cove all fit together like that, snug as can be, side to side to side, until the floor was smooth all the way across. Barnaby patted it, so pleased. “All snug. All together. No gaps at all!”

A grown-up can play too! Find some flat blocks or shapes. Fit them together with no spaces between - snug! Run your hand across the top. Feel how smooth it is when everything fits just right, with no gaps.

That is Barnaby’s happy way: fit the tiles snug together, no gaps between, and they make one smooth whole floor.

Fit the tiles snug together with no gaps, and they make one smooth cove floor! That’s Barnaby.