Crafts & activities

How to make a worm farm

James’s Giant Bug Book is filled with fun facts and activity ideas for bug adventurers young and old. You can go on a bug safari, craft your own grasshopper and even build a bug hotel. Intrigued? Here’s a sneak peek, for how to make a worm farm.

Puffin team
How to make a worm farm

You will need:

•  A clear plastic box, about 20cm x 20cm x 20cm

•  Moist soil

•  Some old, dead leaves

•  Vegetable peelings, overripe fruit, tea leaves

•  Two or three earthworms eager for a holiday

•  Cling film

•  A large elastic band

•  Black card

•  A roll of sticky tape

How to make a worm farm

How to make:

1. Start by putting a 1cm deep layer of soil at the bottom of your plastic box. Then add a layer of sand about 1cm deep. Repeat this process, alternating between soil and sand until there is a space of about 5cm left at the top.

2. Add a layer of leaves, followed by vegetable peelings, overripe fruit and tea leaves. Add your worms!

How to make a worm farm

3. Add some juicy worm food, like leaves and old fruit 

How to make a worm farm

4. Add worms from the garden - be careful handling them, they're delicate!

How to make a worm farm

5. Place some cling film over the top and secure it in place with an elastic band – this will stop your worms from wriggling out! Don’t forget to poke some air holes in the cling film so that the worms can breathe.

How to make a worm farm

6. Cover with some black card so it’s nice and dark – don’t forget the air holes!

How to make a worm farm

7. Put the box somewhere cool and dark. Check every day to see whether your worms have eaten the food and to look at the patterns they’ve made using the soil and sand. Make sure you keep the soil nice and moist by adding water.

How to make a worm farm

8. Remember to return your worms to the wild!

 

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