"We went to the garden and dug up worms!"
Okay, those aren't the lyrics to that gross little childhood ditty, but it is what we did on Sunday. We were doing some gardening/landscaping/clean-up and we found lots of earthworms.
Growing in the debris that we hadn't cleaned up next to the curb.
Anyway, aesthetics aside, the leaves and dirt were perfect for worms and they fascinated Sis and Buddy. At first, Sis would pick them up and relocate them. Bud wouldn't even touch them. After awhile though, probably affected by his pristine attitude, she quit picking them up. So I did. If you'd told me that I would pick up wriggly, giggly worms as a mom, I would have said, "no thank you."
But hey, it's all in the name of "teachable moment," right?
And they aren't that slimy.
Mama just looked on squeamishly from another part of the yard. So much for being the butch one (for the record, I'm in charge of bugs and disposal of any trapped mice, too).
We even built them a worm habitat, something I'd seen on one of those breaks on Noggin. Mama didn't even like bringing out the apple juice jug and lettuce leaves! But she did, and we built it. We haven't seen much activity, but we'll keep watching.
-=-=-=-=-
Worm Habitat
clear bottle or jar (glass or plastic)
sand
soil
leaves
vegetable peelings
worms
Place sand in bottom of bottle (approximately 2" layer). Then cover with about 2" of soil. Then a layer of vegetable peelings. Top with leaves. Repeat until jar is full.
Place 3-4 earthworms on top. Do not seal.
Keep habitat moist by spritzing it every few days. Also, keep in a relatively dark place or cover with black paper when not viewing.
For more information, see Worm's World.
No comments:
Post a Comment