We started our worm study all because of a question my child asked. Yesterday I shared how to make a worm house in order to allow children to have an up-close view of what worms do. We have been observing our worm house for about a week now and one thing that surprised us was how fast worms can move! Today I’m going to share a couple more worm activities and ideas.
Observing Worms: Hands-On Activities
This is what we saw the first time we removed the black paper from our worm house (wormery.) It was like a big I Spy worm bottle! We were able to see the worm burrows and how some of the layers of dirt and sand were mixed together. It was hard to get a good view of the worms though since they were covered in dirt, so we went back outside to find a couple more worms for up-close observation.
We needed to find a couple bigger worms. My 3yr. old and I went on another worm hunt. I asked if she remembered where we found the worms last time (under rocks and in the garden.) We talked about how those places were dark and damp–just how worms like their environment to be. It was a challenge, but we finally found a couple of big worms. (You could purchase them at a bait store too.)
Now we could really see the worm. I encouraged my daughters to touch the worm. How did it feel? What else is special about a worm? Do you see the lines on the worm? Those ringed parts are called segments. Which end do you think is the worm’s head?
Next I placed a gummy worm next to the real worm. I asked my daughters the same questions. Touch the gummy worm. How does it feel? How are these two worms alike? How are they different? My point with this observation activity was to notice similarities and differences, and talk about living and non-living things.
After observing the worms, we did a worm experiment. We wanted to find out which type of environment the worm preferred— the dry paper towel or the wet paper towel. Position the worm so that it is across both halves of the towel. Sit and watch! Record the results. Try it again. Did you get the same result? What happens if you flip the worm around? Do you get the same results?
We recorded all our worm observations in our homemade paper bag worm journal. Take two lunch paper bags and alternate them in a stack. Fold in half. Now you have a book! You can bind it however you want: sew down the spine, use eyelets, staples, or tie twine or ribbon. You can get these pages and more here:
Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers ebook.
Now you have a couple of easy-to-implement, hands-on preschool science ideas!
Oh neat!! I wish I had seen this when we had our little worm center last month! http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/2012/03/worms-gardens-grow.html
Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial and journal pages too! Very appreciated!
Kerri
What a wonderful unit! I love all the skills it covers.
that worm journal is so fun!
Yea!!! We are doing a worm unit while we start our garden next month and I was having a terrible time finding age appropriate worm lessons. This couldn’t have come at a better time! Thank you!
All of this looks like so much fun, and would go great with a classroom book the kids love.. “Diary of a Worm”. Unfortunately (and who knew I would ever think this was unfortunate?), we have never seen a worm in this Arizona desert we live in!! I suppose it would have to involve a field trip to a bait store. Anything in the name of Preschool Science! Thanks for sharing 🙂
What a wonderful study of worms!
WOW! What a fascinating idea. My grandsons are older and not super enthralled with worms, but this they might like. We may have to give this a try. Thanks for the idea and the info.
I’m loving these worm activities. I’m working with two homeschooling moms to develop a worm unit for our 5 year olds, and this observation activity is spot on, for how we will start! I love the way you put together your worm home! And thanks for the free download, we will be using that for sure! 🙂
Darci
Dear Maureen,
I wanted you to know that we referred to your preschool earthworm unit that you posted on Spell Outloud, as we developed a similar kindergarten one! We loved your ideas! We linked back to your site whenever we used one of your resources (like the paperbag book.) You may want to check out all we’ve compiled. http://www.stemmom.org/p/worm-unit.html And this is only the science and math components. I worked with two other homeschooling moms to come up with this great unit, and they did most of the literacy parts.
The reason I’m emailing you is that we are hosting a Worm-themed linky, and believe that your post:
https://spelloutloud.com/2012/04/worm-science/
would be a great addition! Consider linking up, when you get a chance!
Here is the address to our linky:
http://www.stemmom.org/2012/10/we-love-worms-linky.html
Sincerely,
Darci the STEM Mom http://www.STEMmom.org
Andrea from No Doubt Learning http://www.nodoubtlearning.com
Erin from The Usual Mayhem http://www.theusualmayhem.blogspot.com
Awesome!!! Crazy how into the “worm activities” I am lately. We’re getting ready to start our spring unit and will begin with soil, worms, and other critters that live there. Thanks so much for providing such amazing resources. Ms. Barbara from For the Children