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.
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Thank you for this! One of Simon’s current interest is worms, and I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to study them. I will definitely include this activity!
Ami
How great! My youngest would adore this! Absolutely giving this a try!
What a great idea! My little ones love to watch worms, but refuse to touch them. This will be a great project for us! Thanks!
Some might say ‘eeeewwww’ but I say awesome! Thanks for a fun nature project!
Love this! I know this is a series for Science with Preschoolers, but this is absolutely appropriate for all ages. We’ll be setting this little experiment up today, I think.
Yes, you are right–all ages would enjoy this. My older kids have been observing right along with us too.
Love it! My boys will enjoy the hunting for worms process immensely! And since we are currently sowing our garden, it’s the perfect time to find them!
Thanks so much, what a great idea! We just read Yucky Worms and loved it, so it’s perfect timing.
What fun!! These lessons are getting em super excited to do science with my son! Thanks for sharing what you have been doing!
I can’t wait to see what happens next!
I teach 2nd grade and I absolutely hate worms, but I am always trying to think of ways to use animals in my classroom. This is going to be awesome. I think I will have the kids make these. One wormery for each table. This is going to be fun!
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been working on a kindergarten unit with Andrea from No Doubt Learning, and Erin from The Usual Mayhem and we will be referencing your site several times. We’ve included the paper bag activity and I referenced your worm home, made out of plastic bottles. Thanks so much for sharing your materials!
totally doing this – pinning now!
We’re just getting ready to begin a study on spring starting with worms. I haven’t heard of anyone putting the small bottle filled with warm water inside the container to force them to stay to the outside, but that makes SO much sense. What a timely post!! Ms. Barbara from For the Children