It is finally time to start putting food scraps into our Compost Bin! I’ve done my research, the boys know the Garden Rules and we’re ready to get our hands dirty. Since we’re mainly doing this unit to address the food waste we produce, from smoothies, salads and a whole tree of bananas I introduce the concept at breakfast.
It’s our morning routine to wake up and hit the kitchen for a buffet of produce… banana, smoothies, the works. Today I prepare them for our Mess Mat lesson which will be {surprise!} out in the garden today!
As they eat they hear me mention a few things they’ve got right in front of them….
After the first time through I explain to them that today, THEY get to help me make Compost Stew in the garden! Hooray! How exciting. We keep eating breakfast and then talk about things we heard in the book and start dropping “Stew Ingredients” into my conveniently placed green waste bin I put on the counter.
Weeks ago I picked up some little aprons at the Dollar Tree.
I asked the boys if they could be “Garden Chefs” today and make Compost Stew with me…. Clearly, they couldn’t resist such an offer.
Before they woke up that morning, and before breakfast I snuck outside and set up my outdoor classroom. I separated out the parts we needed for our Compost Stew.
Remember all the “parts” you need… refer back to the Building our Bin post for the breakdown of parts to get your 40% Green and 60% Brown.
2 Parts Green & 3 Parts Brown
The boys come running out to the garden with their little chef aprons on ready to make Compost Stew. Of course, they have to play in the dirt a little bit before they can actually focus on any structure.
We began building our sandwich layers.
Wyatt got to throw in the first sticks on the bottom.
Then Cash came in and put shovels of the soil on top.
We continued to layer in our parts. I could give you the blow by blow but I think you get it.
They both took turns “stirring our stew” and then as the book taught us…. You just “put it all in a pot… and let it rot.”
We will just continue to add our kitchen scraps to it, stir it occasionally, check the moisture levels watch it compost.
Keep up on our Composting Toddler School Unit as we plug away!
Welcome to Mom School! This post is one of many Homeschool Preschool Lessons with #MySweetandSticky {Cash & Wyatt} As a former educator, I wanted to give them their best start before heading into public schools. (Which we LOVE!) On occasion, and throughout the summer, we continue our At-Home Learning. Cash is my Science Guy and Wyatt can’t get enough Sensory Play. Join us for every Sweet & Sticky moment.
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Aaaaah I LOVE THIS. I can’t wait to do this with my little one!
[…] our Compost Bin Creating Garden Rules with Toddlers Composting with Toddlers {Filling our Bin} Teaching Toddlers How Things Grow | Planting our […]
This sounds like a great project. My son would love it! He likes to help grandma in the garden already.
That’s so awesome!
Most importantly, did your compost actually turn into compost? Or did it fail (a pile of stinky rotting food)?
Oh my gosh YES! We’ve had gorgeous, black gold for 2 years now!! I’m surprised my neighbors aren’t digging into it! 😉 There are quite a few progress posts from over the last 2 years over on Instagram like this one: https://www.instagram.com/p/BGHytYtFfdK/?taken-by=acottonkandilife
I should absolutely do a follow-up post with them all! Thank you for being here!
Just curious what you do with the shoe rack? In the last post you said you needed it but i do not see it pictured here. i love this idea and i can’t wait to teach my kiddos at Summer Camp.
Hi Sarah! Did you see this post on Building the Bin? http://www.acottonkandilife.com/building-our-compost-bin-toddler-schoo/
The shoe rack serves as a grate to shake down all of the black gold to the bottom. I lift it out and set it on the ground when I want to access the new compost on the bottom. Then all of the not decomposed materials are still intact.