Spring Series #9 - Earthworms

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Spring Series #9 - Invertebrates Study: Earthworms

We have had so much fun this week catching up with the challenges. We really love doing these and I've decided we are going to come up with a way for us to spend more time on Nature Study next year. There are lots of challenges that we haven't done yet (10-43), so maybe we'll make a long-term catching up project out of them.

Over the holiday weekend my girls and I went for a walk in Idaho while it was raining. They were amazed at the number of worms on the sidewalk and tried rescuing them for a while (tossing them into the grass so they wouldn't end up dried out on the sidewalk), but soon realized there were just too many. For the younger two it was the first time they dared to touch and hold worms - they were very brave!

Today we visited Squirmin' Herman and then headed to our backyard to make a Worm Jar. We layered dirt, sand, and uncooked oatmeal - oh the questions!! Why sand? I thought worms don't like sand! Why oatmeal? Will they really eat it? What if it dries out?

Then it was time to dig!! We found almost all the worms in the part of our yard that was still really wet from the sprinklers and in the shade. I don't know if this really makes a difference, but we talked about how it might.

The first worm we found - we tried to identify all the different parts.

We found two worms in the process of mating. Nothing like first-hand experience to really cement what you read about!

Lots of different sizes!

My daughter put this tiny one on her finger.

Inside we filled out the first notebook page I found in Homeschool Creations Earthworm Challenge post - Thank you for sharing!

And then we made a dark paper cover to put on our jar and placed it on the counter where it will spend the next couple weeks.

We had so much fun being outside and learning about these favorite creatures. We do love the Outdoor Hour Challenges - Thank you so much Barb!!!