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Be sure to check out day 2 of our worm observation study too.
It all started with an innocent question,
“Why do we need worms?”
At that moment I realized that I could answer and explain how worms help mix the soil which is good for plants, or that they are food for birds, and so on, but I decided that it might be fun to let my children see for themselves why we need worms. I came across a pop-bottle wormery craft from Karrie McAllister and knew this is what we needed to make. Don’t worry, these worms are contained and quite easy to take care of. You probably already own all the materials needed to make this worm house.
Worm House Supplies:
1 clean 2 liter plastic bottle
1 plastic water bottle filled with room temperature water
scissors
tape
dark construction paper
soil
sand
dried leaves or hay
oatmeal
First remove the top of the bottle. Use tape to cover the edges as they might be sharp. We don’t want any fingers or worms to get hurt.
Place a water bottle in the middle of the pop bottle. This is to force the worms to move to the outside of the bottle, instead of hiding in the middle. Make sure the bottle is filled with room temperature water. Next go outside and fill the container. Start with a layer of sand, then a layer of soil. You can also add a layer of dry leaves or hay. Alternate layers until the bottle is 3/4ths filled.
Now the hunt begins. Ask your child where they think the best place to find worms would be. Let them explore and see how many they can find. My 3yr. old found a couple worms in the garden, but found even more under rocks and planters. We gathered our handful of worms and placed them in our homemade worm home.
Make sure the soil is damp, but not wet. Add some dry leaves or hay along with oatmeal crumbs.
Wrap a piece of black construction paper around the bottle. Let it sit for a day or two before removing the paper. While you are waiting, take some time to read a couple books on worms!
Be sure to check out day 2 of our worm observation study.