Here's a great project for kids, worm farming and worm raising.
What better way to show kids how our natural ecosystem works, and how regular everyday kitchen scraps and coffee grinds and turn into healthy soil to plant vegetables so we can live a healthier life!
Kids Toy Bin
Sometimes this may be a bit boring for kids, but with all the "hub-bub" around kids and health today, I imagine that a school teacher reading this may want to look into organic soil and how worm droppings can create some of the healthiest soil on earth.
Using terms like healthy dirt may get kids to consider worm farming as a hobby as well.
A good place to start teaching is to show actual worms and visually the difference among earthworms, night crawlers and red wigglers or tiger worms and explain what each is very important when talking about worm farms. These are the earthworms species!
Night crawlers are really earthworms used for fishing, and fish love worms. They are found in dark, moist dirt. Have you ever noticed when it rains, earthworms come out of the dirt, this is to stop them from drowning, but it's also a great way to locate earthworms and where they are typically hanging out.
Red wigglers are called that because of their transparency or transparent look. You can actually see their insides, and what you are looking at is the hearts of the worm. Worms have five hearts. That is why when you chop them in half or in thirds, they keep moving.
You can ask the kids what type of farm do they want to build, either a farm for fishing bait, or a farm for healthy soil. Or you can build both and explain the difference. I will go over the differences in this article so you have some basic knowledge.
First, the fishing bait farm is a very easy one to build. We would categorize this under worm raising.
To start, simply make a hole in the back yard, add dirt and used coffee grounds, at a ratio of 50% each, and make the area small and surround it by a few boards, add a plastic cover with holes to keep the animals away. Add the earthworms, or night crawlers (not red wigglers) watch over a short span of time, as the worms reproduce very quickly. You will have thousands of earthworms, ready for fishing bait.
I bet you're asking about the used coffee grounds. These have nutrients that help earthworms reproduce at a very quick rate. You can easily get used coffee grounds at any local coffee shop, like Starbucks, tell them you need it for a school project, and I am sure they will provide.
Just ensure you place some 2x4's around the dirt, and cover with plastic, and holes for air. That is it. Watch the worms and in a few days you will have tons for fishing bait.
Next you can get into the worm farming for "vermicompost". This takes a bit more effort as you need two containers, or three containers if you really want to get into it, but for this article we will use two containers and go over the basics.
One container is for all the dirt, the worms, which is the red wigglers type worm, and the food on top of the dirt, the other container, which will be placed at the bottom, is used for the worm droppings and this is where you create this wonderful organic healthy soil.
Naturally, the top container needs small holes at the bottom, this will allow the droppings to the lower area. Then you need some dirt in the lower area to catch the droppings, this will be your compost.
In the top box, on the top of the dirt, place your worm food. These worms typically eat kitchen scraps. Apple peels, cardboard boxes like pizza boxes, newspapers (black and white section only), are the three items I stick too when feeding worms. Always chop the food up really small, so they can eat it. You may consider adding egg shells, chopped up really fine, and add that to the dirt as well. This will help them produce droppings faster.
When placing the food in the box, you should place it in one quarter of the box, then rotate each feeding time.
Keep the worm farm moist, never too dry or too wet. If you find it a bit dry, just add water, and if it's too wet, add newspaper clippings to dry up the excess moisture.
Red wigglers are harder to find out in the world. I recommend you purchase them. You can find them online for around and you should get around 1000 red wigglers for that price.
Have fun with the project, and along the way, let the kids handle the worms, that's the fun part.
Black Friday RiverRidge Kids 6 Bin Storage Cabinet, Espresso 2011 Deals
Nov 12, 2011 09:14:49
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Black Friday RiverRidge Kids 6 Bin Storage Cabinet, Espresso Feature
- Color: Espresso
- Size: 31.875"D x 24.875"H x 11.5"W
Black Friday RiverRidge Kids 6 Bin Storage Cabinet, Espresso Overview
RiverRidge Kids - Storage cabinet/bookcase includes 6 folding storage bins with open handles. The top shelf is extra space for storage or display. Multiple uses in kid's room, family room or entryway. Attractive wood grain laminate in espresso brown color. The six storage bins are in assorted colors; red, dark blue, light blue, green, yellow and orange. Keep your books, toys, games, art/craft supplies and media organized. The bins can be folded when not in use.SAVE NOW on Black Friday offers below!
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