Lesson Plan
On this page, you will find the steps taken while
at the Day Care center.
STEP 1
Begin by introducing the
kids to worms using these three basic fun topics. Immediately address any fears
or questions the kids might have had, and have them share their worm
experiences.
STEP 2
Allow them to explore actual
worms to get to know them, and particularly learn about what worms eat, so they
could later "feed" the worms in the worm compost bin.
STEP 3
Then lastly, explain to them
so they will know WHY anyone would like to keep worms, which is
basically to recycle food waste into usable compost for their garden that they
are starting at the Day Care Center or any other Pre-School learning facility.
Worms are a great way to do small scale composting.
So the activities were
chosen for that reason:
1. The story was to
introduce the element of fun and get the kids interested in a worm's life.
2. The chance to observe
and draw the worm was to teach them some basics about what kind of animal a worm
is.
3. The seed planting was to
show them how we could use worm compost to grow healthy plants.
INGREDIENTS
Start off by
reading a basic pre-school book about Worms (preferably one that has great
pictures. * See Wormology on website for
suggestions
Worm felt board
- Felt board questions
Where do worms
live? (in leaves)
What do worm
eat?
What eats worms?
(Worm’s enemies)
What other
animals live with worms (worm’s friends)
What is the job
of worms in nature? (to eat garbage and create fertilizer for helping plants
grow)
MEET THE
WORMS
1. Get out the
worm box and open the lid to see if we can find the worms living in the
box.
Point out the worms home, which is made up of dead leaves and newspaper
(which is
like a leaf). Put some worm food in the worm box.
2. Next, find
a worm for each student of groups of two. Put the worms on wet paper
towels so
they won’t dry out. Each kid will then “get to know” their worm. Make
sure to
tell the kids to be GENTLE with the worm and touch them gently.
QUE
QUESTIONS
The following
are a few “sample que questions” that you may want to ask the kids after the
story is read.
1. How does
your worm move?
2. How does
your worm feel?
3. How does
your worm smell?
4. Does your
worm make any noise?
5. What is
your worm doing?
6. What if you
gently touch your worm, what happens?
7. What shape
is your worm?
8. A worm
doesn’t have eyes or ears, just a mouth. The mouth is hard to see,
but the
head of the worm is the part that moves first. Which end do you think
is the
head?
CREATE A
WORM BOOK
1. Create a
Worm Book by using a 8 ½” x 11” sheet of placard, and simple folding in
Half (fold
the top half towards the bottom).
2. There are
TWO things to do in the worm book. ONE is to draw a picture of their
worm. The
next thing is to draw a worm story.
Here
are some story starters:
The first
time I saw a worm . . . .
The first
time I touched a worm . . . .
What did
my worm do at work today . . . .
Where does
my worm live?
Who are my
worms friends?
What did
my worm have for lunch?
How do
worms help plants? . . . .
AND
FINALLY
Take some soil,
some worm fertilizer, and plant some zinnia seeds.
* CAUTION
When planting the seeds, caution the instructors to use LARGE seeds such as
beans, peas, lentils, nasturtiums, squash, melons or sunflower seeds, or they'll
blow all over the place like ours did! Also ,make sure the plant pots don't
have HOLES in the bottom!
Flower,
Dirt, Worm Art Activity
1. Make a
dilute glue solution with washable white glue.
2. Thin the
glue with enough water so kids can dip a paintbrush in the glue and spread it
around on a piece of paper.
3. Have the
students draw a flower with roots on a white sheet of paper. Then have them
paint around the roots with the glue. Lightly sprinkle potting soil or coffee
grounds over the paint.
4. Lastly, kids
can stick little bits of yarn or cooked spaghetti in the dirt to represent
worms. Choose thick spaghetti!
* Note:
Kids could also do this activity with a brown cardboard cutout representing a
worm box. They could make fruit and vegetable stamps with dilute paint and
plant leaves, cut apple rounds, celery stems, etc., representing the worm's
food, and then glue string worms in between the stamps. You could also use
spaghetti for the worms and then you wouldn’t have to use glue, since the starch
in the spaghetti would keep the worms stick to the cardboard. (Well, unless the
kids knock it off!)
Just
Desserts
Worm
snack:
Mix crushed
chocolate wafers with chocolate pudding.
Spoon a small
amount of the mixture into small clear plastic cups (enough to cover the
bottom).
Place a Gummy
worm on top of the pudding mix.
Add one more
spoonful of pudding to cover the worm.
Put bits of
apple or banana in the "dirt" to represent worm food.
Cover the fruit
with one last dollop of pudding.
The kids can
have fun finding the worm food and the worm as they eat their snack!
BONUS ACTIVITIES: SING ALONG SONGS
The kids
can sing along with these songs:
The
Itsy Bitsy Worm -
sung to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" rhythm
* Note:
Red worms are the species of worm used in worm composting. They are smaller
than the night crawlers most people are used to seeing, and they are used
because they are easier to manage in a limited space.
The itsy
bitsy red worm, crawled up through the dirt.
Down came the
rain and washed the little worm out.
Out came the
sun and dried up all the rain,
So the itsy
bitsy red worm, crawled through the dirt again.
This
Little Worm - sung
to "This Old Man"
This little
worm, wiggly worm
He goes
creeping through the dirt
With a squirm
and a squiggle and a dig, dig, dig
Hide from the
robin, oh so big!
* "See "Wormology"
link for background information.