One recent, raining morning Ivo said, "Let's build a wormery Mama." He must have seen this somewhere, because he explained all about filling a big plastic bottle with sand and dirt and leaves and worms. So I did a google search and lo and behold : A pop bottle wormery. Later that morning we went to the library and checked out An Earthworm's Life which was perfect. There's just a sentence or two on each page and the illustrations are actually quite beautiful (which I'm sure is not easy when your book is about worms). Ivo's favorite part was when a boy finds a worm "stranded" on a basketball court and gently moves him to a garden. That small act of stewardship really inspired him, and now he likes to scan every sidewalk for worms to help.
We love to watch our worms. In a few days they will be back in the woods, but for now they are sparking lots of questions and creative thinking. Yesterday Ivo asked me, "Do worms breathe dirt? Papa said the fish breathe water. So do the worms breathe dirt?" I thought that was very clever. And I got a chance to be clever too. Today I picked up a dead junebug from our laundry room floor and my neighbor said, "Ew! I can't believe you can touch that." I said, "Hey you're talking to the lady with a pop bottle full of worms on her dining room table." She'd heard all about the wormery from Ivo so that sent us both into giggles.
That looks like a lot of fun putting together... :-) He looks totally absorbed in the process!
Posted by: Carol | June 13, 2008 at 05:27 AM
You're the BEST--a bottle of worms on the table and a dead June bug in your hands! Ivo is a very lucky boy to have you and Josh to help him discover the world and learn to care for it!
PS. We have LOTS of worms here, so you don't need to bring any for the Fourth. Also, I think Ivo will love seeing our fox--she comes to the window every day and looks in on us. On two special days, she brought her baby with her!
Love, Hugs, and Squiggly Wiggly Wormy Kisses for Ivo~
Mom
Posted by: Mom | June 13, 2008 at 06:44 AM
Ivo is a lucky little boy to have such fun parents that they let him keep worms on the kitchen table ;)
Posted by: Dawn | June 13, 2008 at 10:00 AM
You are wonderful! I am heading to the neighbors right now for a pop bottle(we don't drink pop)...I have a "digging in the dirt" lesson for my Kindermusik class tomorrow and was thinking about a good display for the worms we are going to "hunt" this evening to show to my students. This is perfect.
Wormy hugs to you!
Hollie
Posted by: Hollie | June 13, 2008 at 04:22 PM
what a cool project!
Posted by: Mandi | June 13, 2008 at 04:57 PM
What an excellent idea! My girls are constantly bringing in worms from the yard and I end up finding little bowls and pots of dirt with a couple worms all over the house. I feel bad because mostly they die and I don't want my kids to think it's okay to just kill things for fun, even worms. Maybe we'll try this project, too! Thanks for the idea, Ivo!
Posted by: Lynnie | June 14, 2008 at 07:04 AM
LOL, P wanted to do one this year,
and we just haven't got around to it yet.
Maybe this week.
Yours looks great!!
Posted by: Kate in NJ | June 15, 2008 at 02:38 PM
i am certain that a wormery would be a great hit with my son. Thanks for the idea...if i can get over the yuck factor. I know it would provide tons of entertainment and he might even learn something.
Posted by: leslie | June 15, 2008 at 08:03 PM
psst . . . does he watch Noggin?
What a cool project to try! We should really do that.
Posted by: mamamilkers | June 15, 2008 at 11:28 PM
This is great-I love things like this!
Posted by: Carrie | June 16, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Tag, you're it! Visit my blog for the questions. I hope you'll play along but no pressure. Have a great day!
Posted by: knitsational | June 16, 2008 at 01:45 PM
Ella has been asking me for "worm kisses" this last week. I have no idea what that is all about but maybe a wormery will be a fun thing to try to do with her. Ivo always says the best things, what a great kid!
Posted by: Jess | June 16, 2008 at 10:49 PM
my boys love to catch worms and feed them to our chickens. if they knew there was an indoor alternative involving lots of dirt on mom's kitchen table though... the chickens would definitely have to fend on their own for a while.
you are a cool mom!
Posted by: Sarah | June 17, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Hey, thnks so much for sharing this! Lo lOves worms but we don't see as many here like in the lower 48. She'll love this project!
Posted by: RunninL8 | June 17, 2008 at 06:55 PM
He is so sweet to want to help stranded sidewalk worms. Darling boy.
Posted by: Mary Beth | June 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM