Mom School

Composting with Toddlers | Filling our Bin


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!

 While they eat I read them our new Toddler School “textbook”  Compost Stew by Mary Mckenna Siddals.
Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with KidsTeaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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

I made 4 baskets to represent our PARTS
Basket 1- Sticks for filtration- 1 Part Brown
Basket 2- Dry Leaves- 1 Part Brown
Basket 3- Green Spinach leaves {did not make it into smoothies fast enough} – 1 Part Green
Basket 4- Empty awaiting our compostable food from breakfast- 1 Part Green
For our 5th part I have a tub of Organic potting soil that we will “sandwich” layer between all of the parts.
Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with KidsTeaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

We began building our sandwich layers.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

Wyatt got to throw in the first sticks on the bottom.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

Then Cash came in and put shovels of the soil on top.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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.”

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with KidsTeaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with KidsTeaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

We will just continue to add our kitchen scraps to it, stir it occasionally, check the moisture levels watch it compost.

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with KidsTeaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

Keep up on our Composting Toddler School Unit as we plug away!

Link Back to the Gardening Unit’s Main Post to start from the beginning!
Learn More about Toddler School and past Lessons/Units HERE

 

Teaching Kids about Composting Toddler School Unit from A Cotton Kandi Life. Gardening with Kids, How to make a Compost Bin with Kids

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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8 thoughts on “Composting with Toddlers | Filling our Bin

  1. 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.

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