Worms!

One of our latest projects in the Ladybug household is our worm farm. In preparation for the greenhouse we will soon be getting we wanted to prep our current plants and soil and a worm farm seemed like the best option for us.

We got our set up from Bunnings, but I have also seen tutorials on how to make your own from old bath tubs or styrofoam boxes. The farms are so simple to start up and maintain and Ladybug REALLY enjoys being involved.

     

Her first worm experience was when we added the 2000 compost worms to the farm and now she asks about them every few days. We also hired a book 'Worms: The Mechanic of Organics' from the library to help her understand. She loves reading and wanted to read it again and again again!

      

We have a bin in our kitchen purely for kitchen scraps now and Ladybug knows that bin is for her beloved "woms" and comes with us whenever we take a bowl out to feed them. Worms will happily eat fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells, cardboard and cotton. They don't like meat, dairy, onion, garlic, chilli or citrus.

   

So, why have a worm farm?

Worm 'wee' and poop is one of the best things you can use to fertilise your garden and keep your soil full of nutrients. Every week our worms gives us a bucket of liquid fertiliser and every few months we'll get a tray of solids which can be used to mix through the soil. Mr Ladybug and I like to grow as much of our own fruit, veggies and herbs as we can so aren't really keen on covering our plants with chemicals. Now hopefully, with the help of our worms we can say bye, bye to synthetic fertilisers!

     

How to find out more?

Here in Sydney, Australia some councils offer free worm farms or compost bins as a part of The Compost Revolution <--- Click here to find out if your council is involved

There is a lot of worm information out there if you do a Google or YouTube search. If you're interested try one of these websites: Worm Farmer , Tumbleweed

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DIY rain stick

One of Ladybugs favourite things to play with in music class are the rain sticks. It's funny cause we have most of the other percussion instruments still from my Kindergym days, but no rain stick!

No worries, these things are easy peasy to make. All you need is a postal tube, some aluminium foil and some rice (and maybe some super glue to secure the ends on if you have a curious little one!)

You can decorate the postal tube however you like - we have a stack of pre-painted blue and pink ones but you could decorate them with paint, stickers, glitter, etc

Roll out a big length of aluminium foil then scrunch it up into a long sausage shape.

Then twirl it around into a spiral as you push it into the inside of the postal tube, insuring that the foil goes from end to end.

Pour in some dry rice (we used about 1/2 cup)

Place both ends back on the postal tube. Use some super glue around the edges if you are worried about escaping rice (or poured out rice ;-)

To create a 'rain sound' just hold the tube vertical and listen as the rice tumbles down through the aluminium foil.

Ladybug loves having her very own rain stick now.

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Chalk outlines

Well this post is so self explanatory, it doesn't even need words ;-)

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Smelly match

The girls really enjoyed this game, which stimulated their senses as well as exercised their memory in a different way.

All you need is some cotton balls and essential oils (or you could use any kind of scented liquid if you don't have essential oils available at home already) - for ease of categorisation we also drew up a labelled table on some paper, but this isn't necessary.

Put a drop or two of essential oil on a cotton ball (scent 2 balls per oil), jumble all the cotton balls up and then take turns sniffing each cotton ball to match the scents.

To help with identification I went through and named each scent to the girls before we started.

As mentioned above, we drew up a table to help us define each scent and pair our matches.

So proud to identify a scent on her own AND to make a match!

Apparently some of them don't smell so good!

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Spray paint silhouettes

You are almost guaranteed to have all of these items right now: paper, spray bottle, water and food colouring. Yes? Well you can do some spray painting too!

Ladybug has been noticing all the crunchy leaves on the ground lately and especially likes the big maple style leaves. Whenever we pass any she can't help but pick one up, so this time we took some home to make some silhouettes. After showing her what to do Ladybug enjoyed finding items in the kitchen and garden to use (we found different shaped leaves, flowers, stones, scissors, spoons, a hair comb and our hands!) This is a good fine motor activity as well shape recognition and hand and eye coordination. You could even talk about different colours if you use more than one.

Fill a spray bottle with water and add a few drops of food colouring (if you have more than one spray bottle you could do assorted colours - unfortunately we only had one bottle spare!)

Place the items on the paper and spray (make sure the nozzle is on spray and not jet!)

   

We got the best results by holding the bottle further away from the paper and only lightly spraying the paper, not drenching it! ...but let the kids work this out for themselves ;-)

   

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Spotty scones (sultana scones)

Most kids love cooking so here is a super simple scone recipe which the kids really enjoyed making (anything you can dip your hands in is usually a winner here)

Add flour, dextrose (or caster sugar), salt and butter to a big bowl and mix using your hands until it goes all crumbly

  

Add sultanas then add milk and slowly add water while stirring with a knife (we did not use all of the water)

  

Roll out on a floured bench and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter.

 

Place on a lined tray and brush with milk.

Bake in the oven for approx 10mins at 200 degrees

 

Smother in butter and EAT!

YUM!

Spotty Scones 

(recipe from Cooking With Kids by Susan Davies)

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

1 Tbsp caster sugar (we used dextrose)

Pinch salt

30g butter

1/2 cup sultanas

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water (approx - we didn't use all of it)

1. Preheat oven to 220c. Line a tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour with sugar and salt. Rub in butter with finger tips till mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add sultanas.

3. Use a knife to stir through milk and enough water to form a soft dough.

4. Turn dough onto a floured surface and press out to 2cm thickness. Cut into 5cm rounds. Knead scraps together and repeat. Place rounds onto prepared tray, brush with a little milk and bake for 12-15mins till scones are golden. Cool on a wire rack.

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