Tag: gardening

Saving Worms

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Ever notice how there are worms slithering around on sidewalks after a rainy day?

Amelia noticed. She spotted them on one of our many really hot days and asked what would happen to them.

“Daddy, what happens to them in the sun?”

“They dry up and die.”

“That’s sad. Let’s save them!”

So we decided to spend the morning rescuing the worms. And let’s face it, worms are great for our garden, so it was win-win. Or if you’re a fan of The Office, win-win-win.

We got a small beach toy and started picking the worms up and placing them inside. Amelia decided she didn’t want to touch them, so she used a very colorful zip tie to put them in. I used my hands.

And then we freed them. We talked about how worms make the soil better, and since I didn’t know much about the science behind it, decided to watch this video:

I love when her questions lead me to new knowledge. Because let’s face it, our kids are going to ask a lot of questions that we do not know the answers to. And on this particular day, I realized that a lot of good lessons for our pod of one could come from her questions.

We also HAD to watch (for the hundredth time) the Coyote Peterson episode where he searches for bloodworms. It really is one of our favorites:

This was something Amelia brought up to me. She wanted to know if the worms on our porch would bite like the do in the video, and I quickly told her no.

She taught me something that day. Sometimes, it’s nice to let her take control of a morning and see what happens. Her wish to save these worms, and her question, brought us both a bit more knowledge. Nothing wrong with that, right?

 

If you’re looking for a lesson with a little more structure, Growing Minds, Farm to School has some great ideas for lessons and a few books to read.

 

Gardening is Fun (and Educational)

One of our big events at the beginning of the virus was gardening. Amelia’s great grandmother had given her a few packets of flower seeds, so we started with those.

First, we went over a few online lessons about plants and seeds, since that’s a pretty popular lesson in Pre-K. We started with Scholastic, which had a whole lesson created for teachers. Then we watched a YouTube video or two and read a few books on how plants grow. One was Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed.

Then it was time to plant the seeds. We had to order seed dirt from Amazon because, you know, quarantine. I would usually go to our township’s free dirt pile. You should definitely look into your township to see if they have a similar program. They collect our yard waste and then create the best soil out of it. The only catch? You have to go with buckets and shovel it yourself.

Of course, Amelia really enjoys shoveling dirt into her buckets while I fill mine, so it is usually a good time.

But this time we used store-bought dirt, and it was really great. We talked about the whole process as we planted them, looked up how often to water them, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

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There are many reasons gardening can be a positive experience for kids. Rasmussen College lists moderate exercise, healthier eating habits, stress relief and an early awareness of STEM development as a few.

We finally started seeing buds, and practiced using rulers and writing numbers as they grew, recording their growth as they progressed. Eventually, a friend gave us a ton of vegetable seeds (she is a self-proclaimed over-buyer of seeds, which worked out great for us) and we planted zucchini, pickle cucumbers, string beans, tomatoes and sweet peppers.

We learned how often to water them and made a daily routine of taking care of our garden. It was a great mental break from everything going on.

Eventually, we plotted out a veggie garden and transplanted them outside. For a while we had so many zucchini that we had to start giving them to neighbors. Amelia LOVES zucchini, especially grilled, but even she was over it after a while. Maybe I’ll share our recipe for grilled zucchini in a future post.

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We had so many flowers grow that our small gardens are overflowing with flowers at this point. But the lesson was extended over a period of months because of the growth of the plants, taking care of them, and then harvesting either veggies or seeds for next year.

Of course, this would also work indoors, especially with flowers. Amazon has pretty cheap seeds, but be careful where you order them from. It’s always good to make sure they will be at your house within a week or so, especially with that whole seed scam going on right now.

Overall, I found this lesson enjoyable because I like gardening, and she learned a lot about plants. Plus whenever we are outside she runs to our string bean plant, pulls a few off, washes them and eats them raw. She loves it.

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