How to make a worm farm

A guide to making your own worm farm at home, so that children can watch worms as they tunnel through the soil.

Everyone knows that having an ant farm can be both fascinating and educational, letting you and your children see the way that ants live, work, and tunnel through sand and soil. But why should ants be allowed to have all of the fun? With very little work, you can make a worm farm so that you can watch worms tunnel through the soil.

To get started making your worm farm, you'll need a few supplies. Start with two squares of clear, rigid plastic that are around 12" x 12". Using either screws or an industrial-strength adhesive, attach the plastic to wooden side panels so that they are around 1" apart. Make sure that there's wood on 3 sides, with the top open so that you can add soil and worms.

When you begin adding your soil, try using different types and add them in layers. You might want to use a potting soil, some sand, some dirt from your yard, and possibly even some soil with a high clay content (though you should put this in first so that it's the bottom layer, as it will impede water flow.) Once you've got the worm farm filled to within an inch of the top, water the soil thoroughly (though makes sure that you don't waterlog it.) Should you notice some water leaking out of the bottom or sides of the worm farm, seal it with some caulk to stop the leak.

Now the time has come to add your worms. Select 10-12 worms from your garden or other loose soil, taking care not to expose them to bright light as too much light can harm them. Place them in the loose soil on top of the worm farm, and add a little bit of small gravel with grass clippings or dead leaves on top. Set the worm farm someplace out of direct light, and cover it with a heavy cloth for a few days. The worms will eat the leaves or grass clippings, and will set about digging through the soil under cover of darkness beneath the cloth.

After a few days have passed, remove the cloth (again making sure that there's no direct bright light) and take a look at your worm farm. You may notice that the worms have made a system of tunnels through the different layers of soil, blending and twisting the layers in the process. If you alternated the layers with a light-colored layer on top of a darker one, the effect will be much more noticeable. You should also be able to see some of the worms as they continue to tunnel through the soil, just as they would do if they were still in your yard or garden.

Make sure that you periodically add new leaves and grass clippings to the top of the worm farm, so that they'll have food available whenever they get hungry, and check the soil every few days to make sure that it hasn't dried out too much. If properly cared for, you should be able to keep a worm farm going for quite some time... or at least until you decide to go fishing.

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