Kids Observation Ecosystem Worm Farm – Week 1 Observation

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If you haven’t read the introduction to this experiment, you can check it out here: Kids Observation Ecosystem Worm Farm

March 24, 2019 – Week 1 Observation

Throughout this past week, we would peek inside the Worm Observation Ecosystem and see if the worms are doing anything. No food has been added yet because we want the worms to get used to their new environment for the first week.

There has definitely been a lot of activity going on in there. It is a bit hard to tell how many worms there still are and we aren’t sure if they all have survived, but there is definitely a couple in there doing their job.

We have kept the Worm Observation Ecosystem on our kitchen counter. There is no direct sunlight and the Light Blocker is taped to the front of the Ecosystem and the box it came in is behind it. This is to keep it somewhat darker for the worms since they prefer dark environments.

Below is a paid link to the Kids Observation Ecosystem Worm Farm we used:

Below are the questions I have asked the kids today, along with their direct answers:

• Question: Do you see the tunnels the worms have been making? Describe them.
• Answer: Yes. There are a lot of tunnels. The tunnels are squiggly. Some are big and some are small. The tunnels helped the plants get water and air.

• Question: Where are the tunnels?
• Answer: The tunnels are under the ground, in the dirt. They are in the soil, sand, and coconut fiber.

• Question: Are the worms moving the green sand?
• Answer: Yes, the sand is in different spots because the sand is where we did not put it.

• Question: Have you put any food in the worm farm yet?
• Answer: No. But we will today.

• Question: What kind of food are you going to put in today?
• Answer: A piece of rabbit turd. (He thought that would be funny)

• Question: What food appears to be their favorite?
• Answer: I don’t know that yet.

• Question: Is the grass growing? Describe it.
• Answer: Yes. The grass has started off with seeds in the coconut fiber. Some of the grass is about as long as my pinky finger.

• Question: Can you see the grass roots? Describe them.
• Answer: Yes. The roots are digging and are in the worm tunnels. The roots are white.

• Question: Have you added any water yet?
• Answer: No. It is still wet in there.

• Question: What foods are you interested in feeding them?
• Answer: Rabbit turds, lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberry tops.

• Question: Do the worms become more active when a light is shined on them? Describe what you are seeing?
• Answer: Yes. They move back into the tunnels.

• Question: What do the worms look like?
• Answer: The worms look like brown, purple and they can be long, skinny or short.

• Question: Is there anything else you would like to add to describe what you are seeing?
• Answer: I have been watching the worms do work. The type of work I see them doing is moving the sand and making tunnels. There is a worm coming up out of the top and he is moving the coconut coir. The worms get on top of the grass they start pushing the grass out of the way. And they push the grass and coconut coir out of the way.

• Question: What do you think will look different next week?
• Answer: The food will be ate and there will be more tunnels. The grass will be taller too.

Here is a gallery of today’s observations:

As you can see, the worms have been busy during their first week in their new home. It would be nice to see a little more activity from the worms but so far they are doing a great job showing us what they do.

That is all for today. Keep an eye out for the next post for an update on this experiment which will take place next weekend. Hopefully we will be able to share more interesting changes to this system.

Continue to the next observation – Weeks 2 & 3 Observation