Worms, worms, and more worms!!

This week, as we've talked about gardens and what is needed to help plants grow, we talked about bugs. Bugs do a lot inside gardens and really are necessary for a great garden. So, to enhance what we talked about, we had the children experience worms. They got to feel them, watch them, hold them, and see how they moved. This was, by far, the BEST lesson we had ALL year! The excitement and giggles was amazing!

We started by placing a worm in front of every child on a piece of construction paper. As expected, the worms were a little scary and intimidating, so, they stayed right on the paper. Everyone loved watching them and desperately waited for their worm to wiggle, so that they could giggle.
After a few minutes, someone would become brave enough to let us place their worm into their hand so that they could hold it. As soon as one child held their worm, they all gained courage. Child after child touched their worm or asked help in holding their worm. They were still nervous, but were gaining excitement the more their worms moved in front of them.

After several minutes, we decided that the worms were still quite cold and lethargic from being in the refrigerator. We figured that maybe if we let them warm up a little, they'd be even more fun. So, we passed out worm pictures for everyone to color. We had them put their worm down on the paper in front of them and color.

As they began to color, the worms really came alive!! They were braver, and possibly warmer, and began moving all around. One child kept stretching his out as he colored. When he did, it shrunk back dragging the paper with it making everyone giggle. One worm tried to crawl under the paper to hide, while another crawled over to the crayons, of course making everyone laugh. The children couldn't wait to finish coloring because they were promised another chance to pick their worm up.

It wasn't long, and the fun began again...

This was a great day for these little preschoolers. They will remember it forever and will always know how worms help plants grow in a garden!!