Worms, Worms, Worms.....

Worms, worms, worms........... Today was all about worms. Last night, our evening crew of children were helping me move some the sand near the edges of our sandbox because we need to enlarge it by a few feet for our new play structure. (We received a quality improvement grant from the 4Cs/Great Start Regional Resource Center for a new outdoor play structure. I'll be blogging more about this as we finish installing it.) When we went to move the edges of the sandbox, we found a bunch of worms!!

"Can we keep them?"

"Find a bucket and we will bring them inside."

This morning, I filled the sensory table with some dirt and our worms:

"They are wiggly"

It tickles when they move on your hand.

They look much bigger when you use a magnifying glass!

"Look at how long that one is!!!!"

"I think this one is the longest worm."

After we spent some time observing our new worm friends, we decided it was time to paint with "worms." Our worms were made from pieces of a new mop head. We dipped them in paint and wiggled and jiggled them across the page... Just like the real worms wiggled in our sensory table.

"Look, this worm made an A!"

Although all of the children enjoyed making the worm paintings, the youngest two were the most intrigued. They spent quite some time working on their masterpieces!

Dane decided that the worms needed a real home that wasn't the sensory table, and we decided to follow these instructions from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. However, we decided to use a larger container for our farm.

We alternated layers of soil, uncooked oatmeal and sand until our container was nearly filled to the top. Then we added some water before we placed the worms on the top.

We learned that worms are nocturnal which means that they like to stay up at night and aren't very active during the day. We also learned that worms are good for the soil. We weren't quite sure what was going to happen to the worms in our farm, but we put it in a bag to help keep it dark and will check on our worms every day.

By the time we finished with all of this fun stuff, it was time for lunch.... and we, of course... ate worms:

Okay, they weren't really worms. They were turkey dogs that were cut into long sliver pieces before they were boiled, but Ms. Amy sure fooled us for a couple of minutes!

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Easter Egg Caterpillars!

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My friend died

I learned a hell of a lot from Dan Hodgins. He was mentor, a friend, and a "bone shaker" for many of us in the field of Early Childhood Education. He was and will always be a champion for children, and protector of childhood. I have so many great memories of time spent with him, it just doesn't seem like we had enough time. Dan died this past Saturday. Interestingly enough, Dan and I talked about death quite a bit. It is one of those topics that isn't talked about all that much in our field, but is super important. All living things eat, all living things poop, and all living things die. Dan and I recorded a podcast for awhile called "Shaking Bones." Dan was always shaking bones, even before I met him. To say I was honored to be asked to be his co-host would be putting it lightly. I loved recording with him. He was never afraid to touch on topics that were a bit edgy, or issues that sometimes weren't talked about much at all. We even t

A Few Ideas With Marker Caps (As Promised)

Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them

Ashley Pichea said…

Worms are so much fun! Unless they're hornworms (like the ones I found last week) and they're eating your tomato plants! :)

Stopping by to say "Hi" from the Hip Homeschool Hop!
I just wanted to introduce myself as the newest member of the HHM team - I'm looking forward to getting to know you!

- Ashley Pichea
@apichea
ashleypichea.com

September 14, 2010 at 5:32 PM

Brimful Curiosities said…

My daughter loves to hold worms...my son won't touch them.

September 20, 2010 at 12:17 AM

Ticia said…

I love all you did. And they made such great observations.

September 30, 2010 at 11:02 PM

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