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Unit 18: Biology Part 1 Page 41 of 60

Activities and Experiments

Lesson 1: Invertebrates

Activity: Build your own worm farm and watch them turn food

scraps into soil!

Materials:

 2 polystyrene boxes with lids the same size. Let’s call them Bin A and
Bin B.
 A sheet of insect screen to fit the bottom of the boxes
 Newspaper clippings
 Garden soil
 Food scraps (half-eaten fruits and veggies, stale biscuits and cakes,

crushed egg shells, coffee grounds)
 Water
 1000 Worms (Either “Tiger”, “reds”, or “blues”; ask for them at your
local garden store)

Build the farm:

1. Punch evenly spaced holes in the bottom of Bin A.
2. Place the insect screen on the bottom of Bin A (this is so that the
worms don’t fall out).
3. Fill Bin A ¾ full with wet newspaper clippings.
4. Add a layer of garden soil to Bin A.
5. Add the worms.

6. Place Bin A in Bin B. Make sure there’s enough room in Bin B when Bin
A’s placed in it to collect the worm pee and waste. Be sure to empty
and clean Bin B every couple days.
7. Add food to bin A! Start off small. You don’t want to over-feed the
worms. Start out with a couple scraps in the corner and see how long
it takes for them to disappear—that should give you a good idea of
how much to feed your worms.

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