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Worm Farm

This nature activity teaches children how to build and maintain a worm farm.
Worm Farm Nature Activity

Worm Farm

Materials

  • 2 old buckets
  • Dirt
  • Garden worms
  • 1 cup dry-meal dog food
Directions

If you like to fish or live near a lake, a worm farm could be a fun hobby!

  1. To prepare the bucket, make plenty of small drainage holes on the sides and bottoms with a hammer and a thin nail.
  2. Fill the buckets with rich garden soil, add the dog food, and mix well.
  3. Sprinkle water on the soil until it is moist but not soggy.
  4. Now go digging in your yard or compost pile to find twenty-five worms.
  5. Put them on top of the soil filled buckets and watch them burrow out of sight.
  6. Stand the bucket on bricks in a pan full of water to keep the ants from eating the worms.
  7. Start a crop of worms in the second bucket after a month to give you a steady supply.
  8. Check your worm farm once a week to see if it is still moist. Too much water is worse than too little.
  9. Every three weeks, dump the top five inches of dirt out and mix it with a half cup of dog food.
  10. Dump the rest of the dirt out, put the dirt with the dog food in the bottom of the bucket, and pile the rest of the dirt back in.
  11. This is a good time to check how your farm is growing. You should have hundreds of worms in twelve weeks.

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