DIY Worm Farm with Preschoolers

DIY Worm Farm with Preschoolers

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Preschoolers love exploring anything in the dirt, including worms! 
Creating a worm farm will offer many learning opportunities for preschoolers. In particular, worm farms are great for sensory and science development.
Engage in this experiment as part of your Worms, Snails, & Slugs theme or anytime!

Step 1: Prepare the worm housing

This DIY Worm Farm Tutorial will guide you in creating your worm farm for little to no cost!

​The first step is to gather your materials. 
Materials List:

• 4 empty buckets (we used cat litter containers, if you don't have access to these you can use something else, they should be nesting and you should have a lid for the top, dark colored containers are best!)
• Drill with a 1/4 inch drill bit, safety goggles
• Shredded newspaper
• 2-3 cups of Food Scraps each week (coffee grounds, fruits and vegetables and their peels, bread, and ground egg shells)
• Red wigglers (worms)
• Small garden shovels

You will be using your drill for this part. Be sure to wear safety goggles, if your preschooler is helping or watching be sure they are wearing safety goggles as well. **This is an excellent opportunity to talk about the importance of personal safety equipment!
You will be putting holes in 3 of the bins (the 4th bin will be on the bottom and should not have holes). Use your 1/4" drill bit and drill holes along the bottom. The holes will allow water to drain through and the worms to travel between bins. 

Step 2: Bedding

Select two of your bins with holes in them.  Place bedding material in the bottom, the bedding should be a combination of newspaper, dead leaves, and peat moss. Make sure this material is moist but not soaked. 
In one of the containers, place some food scraps on top of the bedding mixture, this will be the bin you will be adding the worms to. 

Step 3: Add Worms

Time to add the worms! Red wigglers are best for worm farms as they thrive in the tight conditions. You can get some from your local garden center or ask another worm farmer to share some. You can dig up worms from the ground, but they may not do as well. 
Kids love to dig for worms, add some of your red wigglers to a container of soil for your kiddos to "dig up." As they find the worms, add to their new home. 

Step 4: Putting it all together

You now have your four bins ready to go! Your bin with nothing in it should be on the bottom. Nest the bin with the worms inside of bottom bin, then place the bin with the bedding, then the top bin (which is currently empty) with the lid. 

Place the stack in a dark and warm place. When we started it was still very cold so we stored them in an indoor closet until it warmed up. You might store yours in a shed, garage, or in a shady spot outside. 

Upkeep

Plan to check on your worms about once a week.

• Start by checking the bottom bin for any liquid, this "worm tea" is great to water your garden with. *Note: if you are getting a lot of liquid you may choose to put a brick in the bottom bin and/or drain often so the worms in the next bin up don't drown. 
• Next, check on the activity in the second bin. *Teacher Tip: Give your preschooler a notebook and pencil to draw a picture of how the worms look each week. Then they can dictate what they observed so you can track  progress. 
• Check the next bin up and start adding food scraps. Be sure to add equal parts bedding material or brown material and about 2 cups of food scraps each week. Before adding newspaper/cardboard, soak in water and wring out. This will help keep the area moist without adding too much water. As the worms run out of food in the current bin they will start moving up to this bin. 

Once the worms start migrating into the third bin you can begin adding scraps and bedding to the top bin. Then you will empty the bin you started with and place that bin on top. 

Take pictures of the contents of the bins often to refer back to. Talk about what is happening in each bin. 
Here are some great books and material ideas to help guide the experience and enhance preschoolers learning!

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