The SMILE Program @ OSU

At the SMILE Teacher’s Workshop Spring 2013, Brad Agenbroad and Ian Niktab presented similar activities to those below.  Other activities can be found on their blog.

Bottle Biology

This activity helps students explore the connection between land and water by allowing them to build a TerraAqua Column and change different variables of the system and observing their effects. These TerraAqua Columns are made from an empty two-liter bottle and other easily recycled items that can be acquired at little to no cost.

2-Liter Bottle Worm Bin: Garbage Eating Worms

In this activity students will learn about the importance that earthworms and microorganisms play in creating soil.  Students will make their own worm farm and will be able to watch the worms turn organic garbage into soil. This hands on activity can also be made easily with found materials.

The links below have really clear instructions that should be easy to follow. The last link is for a larger container that the worms can live in for a longer period of time. Brad suggests the small red wigglers, rather than night crawlers (they tend to get out at night.) If you use the liter bottles, they can live in there for a couple weeks, but you will need to watch the moisture and feed.

Here are the exact lessons that Brad and Ian presented in the Workshop:

https://suite101.com/a/popbottle-wormery-science-craft-a124055

http://www.spelloutloud.com/observing-worms-with-preschoolers.html