We have a worm farm in our garden that our little ones help to take care of. At each mealtime, our little ones contribute their scraps of fruit, vegetables and bread so that our worms have enough to eat throughout the week. Our tamariki love accompanying their Kaiako with throwing the scraps in and they love to see what their worm friends are up to.

Taking care of our plants involves watering them; and our little ones take turns holding the hose and doing this on a regular basis. There is however, another way our plants can be supported to grow - by utilising something produced from our worm farm!

One day, one of our passionate educators invited our little ones outside near the worm farm. Opening the lid, they spent time discussing what they could see and the reason why we have a worm farm. The discussion led to the process of worms eating the scraps and producing worm castings (worm poo) and how this helps the garden grow.

Carefully positioning a bottle under the tap, our little ones had turns using a hose to drain out what they could see as a brown liquid. “Do you know what that is? – it’s worm wee”. Our tamariki thought this was hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing.

After filling up a few bottles of worm wee, they used their muscles to carry them back towards the planter boxes – careful not to spill a single drop.

Now before worm wee can help the plants to grow, it needs to be diluted with water and turned into worm tea. So, each child had a turn measuring some water in their buckets and adding in some worm wee. This involved focus, concentration and of course a steady hand.

With buckets of worm tea ready, our little ones split off into pairs and began pouring the worm tea in our planter boxes and in our pot plants. They enjoyed seeing the worm tea disappear into the soil and repeated the process until all the plants had been taken care of.

Involving our little ones in the process of gardening and learning about sustainability is important as they are the kaitiaki (guardians) of the natural world. We want them to learn and understand how they can play a part in caring for the world so that all living things are nurtured. Gardening is also a way to teach the value of responsibility and it is always amazing to see our little ones taking ownership and showing their pride when a seed they have helped plant, begins to grow and blossom.

We look forward to seeing how the worm tea supports our plants to grow and flourish. 😊