Earthworm Encounters: A New Sensory Activity (+ a Favorite Song)

The lowly earthworm is such an important creature.  A songwriter called Mr. Nicky captures some of the many reasons why in his delightful song, "Earthworm."  Some facts that he highlights are that earthworms:

1) help gardens grow,
2) are nocturnal, and
3) are covered in slime.

The slime never bothered me too much as a child, since I managed to collect earthworms for my worm farm and impale them on hooks for fishing bait.  And my children love to find live earthworms in our backyard too.  But for a slime-free approach, I made some segmented worms out of plastic drinking straws.

Materials:

• plastic drinking straws
• sharp scissors (to be used by an adult)
• fake dirt* (black rice and stale Grape Nuts cereal in our case) or sand
• medium to large container
• ruler or tape measure, optional

Methods:

1. Carefully cut segments in the straws, being careful not to slice all the way through.
2. Fill a container with fake dirt or use a sand box.  Hide the worms under the dirt or sand.
3. Ask the kids to find the plastic earthworms.
4. Optional: Use a ruler or tape measure to measure each earthworm found.

First we measured one worm.

Then we put two worms together and measured again.

* For fake dirt, you could also use birdseed, coffee grounds, or wood shavings.

Additional Resources:

You can find more facts about earthworms at the Worm Facts Page.
 This post is linked to It's Playtime, where more fun ideas abound!