EcoKids Blog

“Oh little worms in the bin so neat, how we wonder what you eat.  Apples, eggshells, veggies, too.  All these things are good for you.  Little worms in the bin so neat.  Now we all know what you eat!”

 Hey kids, these are lyrics to the song Little Worms, which is a song about how worms compost our food scraps. You can create your own compost at your home or in your class.  And what kid doesn’t like exploring insects?! 

 Here is a step by step guide for making a worm compost bin (you will also need an adult to help).

Materials: One 12-gallon coloured plastic storage bin (choose one that is smaller if storage space is an issue), Electric drill with 1/2-inch drill biT, Hot glue gun (Be careful. These are very HOT and may cause burns. Please ask an adult to help.), Four plastic pop lids, Newspaper, Water, One pound of red worms.

Instructions

Step 1: Ask and adult to drill eight holes into the bottom of the compost bin. Space them out evenly to allow water to drain throughout the bin (please ask an adult to do this part).

Step 2: Glue plastic pop lids to each of the four corners on the bottom of the container (please ask an adult to this part).  The pop lids will act like “legs,” which will slightly lift the container to allow water to drain.

Step 3: Place the compost bin on a flat surface outdoors or indoors. The compost bin may remain outdoors when the temperature outside is between 12º C and 25º C.  Otherwise, place the compost bin indoors with a tray under it.

Step 4: Shred some newspaper into strips about an inch wide. Fill about two-thirds of the compost bin with the newspaper strips.

Step 5: Pour six cups of water into the compost bin and mix the newspaper strips around to get them wet.

Step 6: Place the worms in the compost bin. Allow them to live in the bin for about three days before feeding them.

Step 7: Fill the bin with scrap foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggshells, tea bags and coffee grounds.  You can also continuously add shredded paper (not glossy), coffee filters, leaves and lawn clippings. Do not add plastic, meat or dairy products.

Step 8: Continue to put your food waste into the compost once or twice a week but do not add more then one pound of food waste at a time. Dig halfway down into each section, place the food down in an even layer and cover with the old waste you dug up.  Rotate quarter sections each time you feed your worms.

Let us know how your worms are doing!  If you have a worm compost bin, share your experience with us. What do you like about it? What do you think is interesting in a worm comport bin? What have you composted?

By Nicole, EcoKids Intern

Little Worms is reprinted courtesy of Envirokids, a program of the City of Tacoma, Washington: http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/envirokids/activities/songs.htm

Photo credit: Courtesy flickr user looseends

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Canada, Consumer Habits, EcoKids, Energy, Environmental Issues, Nature, Waste. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.