Compost Projects for Children
Before there was an environmental movement, many American families were composting to create fertilizer for their gardens. It was usually the job of the children in the family to haul the manure from animals, grass clippings and leaves into the compost pile. These days, kids still perform the basic functions of keeping a composting pile for family needs, school projects and, in some cases, fundraisers. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Natural Compost Bin
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Contributing waste and clippings to a compost pile is just part of the process of creating a kids' compost project. Teach the kids that a good mixture for compost is three parts green or soft materials to one part brown or woody materials. Green materials are grass clippings, fruit and vegetable rinds and green leaves. Brown materials include manure, branches, untreated cardboard and dried plant materials. Have the kids contribute table scraps and yard waste and allow the composting process to begin. The kids will be able to feel, and sometimes see, the heat given off by the composting materials. Within months, the material develops into a thick, brownish-black loam that works well as fertilizer for a garden.
Vermicomposting
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Another project that excites some young children is vermicomposting. This is done in much the same way as composting with the additional "yuck" factor of using worms to aid in the composting process. The action of the red worm in eating waste and producing rich soil nutrients for your plants or lawn speeds up the normally season-long process of churning the pile regularly. When the worms are done composting the waste all that is left is are "castings," which kids call "worm poop." As long as there is a decent moisture level and plenty of ventilation for air levels, the vermicomposting project will be a success.
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School Fundraising with Compost
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The students bring in compostable material from the first week of classes until spring. A common compost pile is used to collect the refuse and student volunteers churn and turn it regularly. When spring comes, the school sells the rich compost as fertilizer. No money goes into purchasing anything -- the children bring in the materials each day to add to the pile. Ask people outside the school to bring in their garbage for free to be composted. Most are only too glad to pay for the resulting fertilizer. It is a fundraiser with no upfront costs at all. Combine this idea with vermicomposting and sell fishing bait, too.
Year-Round Gardening Project for Children
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For families living in areas of extreme cold, having kids build a composting pile helps them grow a garden year round. In some areas there is only a six or seven month period of time where the weather is warm enough to plant or grow a garden. A compost pile that is built and surrounded by heat-trapping plastic transfers the heat energy into a larger area, making it possible to keep growing a garden year-round -- or at least start the seeds early. Children walk through snow into the plastic covered area where the temperature is kept at a respectable 80 degrees Fahrenheit thanks to the free heat generated by the composting materials. The heat generated is enough to keep tomatoes, strawberries and other plants healthy and protected from the cold during those long winter months.
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References
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