During the month of February, the 2nd graders have been learning about worms. They joined us for a worm exploration day and made their own worm hotels.  (instructions below)  There were three stations to visit: looking at worms with magnifying glasses and making observations, creating the worm hotels, and decorating and naming their hotels. We filled each hotel (3 in each class) with 6-8 worms and then moved them to the classrooms so that the kids could observe them. They were in charge of feeding their new pets and making sure they didn’t dry out, and could lift the cover off their hotel to see the tunnels and worms in the soil.

We then took a trip to the garden and released the worms into our vegetable beds. It was  exciting to watch the worms burrow into the beds and we could reinforce the lessons they had learned about worms creating healthy soil and helping plants grow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make your own worm hotel is easy.

Ingredients: two liter pop bottle, pencil, small plastic/paper plate, glue, newspaper, soil, water, sponge, construction paper and markers

1.  wash out a two liter pop bottle and cut the top off

2. poke holes around the bottle about 2 inches from the top and poke a few in the bottom for drainage

3. glue the bottle to a small plate for stability

4. have the kids rip or cut newspaper into 1 inch pieces (about 8-10 single sheets is enough for one hotel)

5. mix the newspaper in a large bowl with 2 cups sandy soil and enough water to make it wet but not dripping (they love to use their hands for mixing)

6. fill your worm hotel with the bedding and place a damp sponge on top to keep the worms moist

7. have them decorate a piece of construction paper that fits around the bottle, tape it into a cylinder and slide it around the outside of your hotel

That’s it, a finished worm hotel! Don’t forget to name it (some of our favorites were ‘the golden worm palace’, ‘the worminator’, and ‘the worm spa’) and feed your worms every couple of days by burying vegetable scraps for them. Keep them damp and observe your new pets by lifting the construction paper and checking out their tunnels.