Kids in the garden are learning about WORMS and COMPOSTING today! Join us this month for articles all about gardening with children. Out special guest, Sandi Purdell Lewis, kindergarten teacher and garden ambassador, shares with us her classroom adventures. She is the author of Rubberboots and Elf shoes, a kindergarten blog with all sorts of adventures including fairy garden activities, learning about famous art, and all sorts of sensory bin ideas! I hope her article will inspire you to learn more about worms with your children. They aerate our gardens, loosen our soil, provide natural fertilizer for our plants and are just really neat creatures to study. ~ Amanda
Worms and Composts
By rubberboots and elf shoes
On my last trip to empty my class compost bin, I saw something that made my heart smile. Some early, miniature daffodils were blooming. Soon it will be time to use some of those banana peels, apple cores and occasional watermelon rinds that have been transformed into “black gold” to feed the garden and what it grows.
And kids can help. What kid doesn’t want to feed worms?
Learn about Worms and Composting There are lots of books about worms and composting for kids. Three of our favourites are:Make Friends with Worms
Kids, dirt and worms – what could be more fun?- Watch the future wormologists explore
- Feed the Worms so That They Can Feed Your Garden
- What food do we collect for our worms?
- http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/dirt/composting.html
- Online game – help Wallace the worm navigate his way around the compost bin Which bin – Recycling or Compost http://www.recycledevon.org/kidszone/junkfood/
- Can I Compost This http://www.compostthis.co.uk
The worms don’t live in the compost bucket – they live in in a compost pile.
- Earth Machines,(http://www.earthmachine.com/index_r.html)
- a cage made of wooden posts and chicken wire (http://www.motherearthliving.com/wiser-living/make-your-own-compost-bin.aspx) ,
- a fancy three compartment husband-built compost (http://www.saskwastereduction.ca/resources/Composting/3-comp-bin.html),
- and a pile a corner of the garden.
The worms seem to like them all equally.If you provide the place and the worm food, they will come.
Feed the worms. Give them occasional airings and just the right amount of water . And let them do their work – creating fabulous and free fertilizer for the garden. Enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of their labour.
Celebrate the Worms
There’s nothing like eating a little worms and dirt to put a smile on a kid’s face and acknowledge the worms’ hard work in the garden. (Not the real thing, please see the picture below – using chocolate pudding, chocolate cookie crumbs and a gummy worm)
Reducing landfill waste.Free fertilizer. Yummy produce. Red wiggly pets that require no maintenance.It’s a good thing.
Thanks so much for allowing me to be part of this series. I believe that kids have an innate interest in things that grow – especially things that they can eat. We just have to give them opportunities to "grow" that interest.