Ages 4 and up (2 to 3 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes)

Objectives:
Understand how compost is made and why it is good for the garden

Materials:
compost shovels, pitch forks, spades
magnifying lenses

Set up:
Show the children the compost and ask them what does it look like (dirt and sawdust). What do they think compost is made of (watermelon rinds and sawdust were popular answers). Our compost was made of grass, leaves, horse stable and food wastes. These ingredients rotted down over time to turn into humus. What is humus? Not the hummus that goes on sandwiches. Humus is the organic layer of soil, which is a rich dark color compared to the rest of the soil layers. Why is it good to compost our yard and food wastes? Composting our wastes reduces trash and turns something smelly into a rich soil for the garden. Reading books about composting also helps the children understand what exactly goes on to create compost.

Part One:
Start digging into the compost. Ask the children what do they see in the compost (worms and many different kinds of bugs). Allow the children to keep count of the number of worms they find. Many of the children understand the concept of the worm castings being good for the plants and garden. Explain that the compost provides food for the plants that we will be planting later as well as food for the worms.

Part Two:
Begin to move the compost pile to the garden with shovels, pitchforks and other tools. Keep in mind that the children will work at their own pace. Probably looking and catching worms is going to be more exciting than working on moving the compost. Several days may be needed to move the compost and spread it out on the garden area with the children. Allow them to play with the pile. The children at CSDC pretended that it was a volcano and that the hot lava was being spread onto their garden to help it grow.

Questions to ask:
How does compost help our plants? Why do the worms like the compost so much? Why is compost good for the environment?