When my kids forget to do what I’ve told them repeatedly or disobey me about something small, I don’t get angry. They get bugs! I’m not joking. It really works. Our yard gets infested with pill bugs and so my daughter gets to collect them for a punishment. She can hunt anywhere for bugs in our yard to find a certain amount and she always tries to do it as fast as she can. This helps control the bug population and helps her remember to do what is right.

This bug search experiment helped show her where she can find the most bugs.

How to do the Bug Search Experiment

You’ll need a plastic bottle cut in half for this experiment. I cut 3 bottles so that each of my children could get their own soil. I gave them the top half and left the cap on so the dirt didn’t fall through.

After they collected their dirt, I took of the lid and put the top half of their bottles in the bottom half with the lid side down. Then I put them on a tray so if they tipped the dirt wouldn’t get all over the counter.

We marked them to remember who’s was who’s and wrote down our hypothesis on our science experiment worksheet. I asked my kids where they got their dirt from and Audrey said by the strawberries, while my other two children got their dirt from the chicken coop (I made them wash their hands really well).

I balanced a flashlight on top of their dirt to represent the sun. If you have a lamp that bends and can be moved to point down, that would be a lot better light source. We left our light on for two hours and then checked the bottom of the bottles.

There were two bugs in the bottom of Audrey’s bottle, but no bugs in the other two.

If you don’t find any bugs in your bottles you can have your children try another location. Give them a hint to where they might find dirt that has lots of bugs in it.

Lessons Learned from this Experiment

This experiment shows that most bugs that live in dirt don’t like light or heat so they dig down lower to get away from it and fall into the bottom of the bottle. It also shows what kind of soil bugs like. The soil that was from the chicken coop was dryer and lighter than the soil next to the strawberries. My children made the observation that maybe the chickens had eaten a lot of the bugs so there wasn’t any left in their soil. So they decided that bugs like wet, cool, and chicken-free dirt. Now they know where to search for bugs if we give them the task for forgetting to feed the dog in the morning!

Would your child like this experiment? What kind of observations did they make?

You might like to use our Free Insect Preschool Printables with this experiment!

Find even more Earth Day Activities here:

Easy Earth Day Sensory Play (Natural Beach Living)

Earth Day Coffee Filter Suncatcher Craft for Kids (A Little Pinch of Perfect)

Ways to Recyle Activities for Kids Play Ideas (Little Bins for Little Hands)

Water Filtration Experiment (Teach Beside Me)

The post Earth Day Science: Bug Search Experiment first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library

This post is filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

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This Week’s Featured Posts…

Coffee Filter Earth Sun Catchers

Talk about how you can make the world a better place by taking care of your environment while you make these!

Butterfly Life Cycle Cards

Use play dough to discover the different stages of a butterfly.

Free Earth’s Structure Lapbook

Planting Trees Sensory Activity

I suggest taking this activity outside, but if it is pouring rain, a sensory bin is a great alternative.

Tracking and Learning About Temperature

This has a great free printable chart that helps kids see the changes in temperature.

Easy Thunderstorm Craft

Weather is extremely important to the earth, even storms!

An Intro to the Earth for Preschool

A Montessori approach to studying the earth for preschool.

Free Garden Emergent Readers

Teach your little ones about the garden before they start their own.

More Earth Day Activities!

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The post Earth Day Activities and Crafts at Mom’s Library #134 first appeared on True Aim.

To add a little whimsy to our garden we pretended it was a forest and added some animals to it.  It was also a little experiment to see if we could get a seed to sprout on an animal.  Encourage other scientific hypotheses by asking your children questions about how long they think it will take for the seeds to start sprouting.

Edible Mini Garden Supplies

For our mini garden we used mustard seeds.  Other seeds that do well for sprouts are watercress, radish, pea, chick pea, mung beans, alfalfa, fenugreek, sunflower, lentil, and broccoli.  You can buy many of these seeds or dried lentils at the bulk food store.  Then we used a pie dish for our container and a paper towel to keep the seeds moist.  You can use anything you have around the house, but if your seeds are larger you will want to use more paper towels, cotton or something thicker to keep those seeds moist.

After Audrey placed the animals the way she wanted them, she poured the seeds all around the dish.  Then she soaked the paper towel with water and put the dish in a sunny window.  

Each day she checked to make sure the paper towel was moist and added water as needed.  We didn’t want to drowned the seeds, but just keep them moist.

We were amazed that after just one day you could see the seeds starting to sprout!  God’s creation really is amazing.  The sprouts were ready to try after only 11 days.  This would make a great science experiment for the children to draw their observations and note what is happening to the little seed.

The result of our experiment on growing seeds on the animals was unsuccessful.  I asked Audrey why she thought it didn’t work and she knew right away that the seeds weren’t staying moist on the plastic surface.  They needed to be touching something wet so they could absorb the water.

We accidentally forgot about our sprouts one day and they dried out a little, but after giving them water they perked back up.  I’m sure if you remember to water them diligently they would be ready even sooner.  They only need to be 1-2 inches long and have a couple leaves on them.

I added the sprouts to our sandwiches that day to give them a little crunch.  The kids really liked them!   Have you ever grown your own sprouts?

For more learning activities for kids, like us on Facebook or follow us on Pinterest. 

The post Plant Science: Edible Mini Garden first appeared on True Aim.

If you ask most young children where food comes from, they will say, “The grocery store.”  Ask them how you get the food and they will tell you, “You buy it with money.”  Sadly, many adults would answer the same.  That’s why I love teaching my children about plants and gardening.  They’ll grow up confident  knowing that they can grow their own food and don’t have to rely solely on an outside source.

How to Grow Potatoes from Cuttings

Potatoes are perfect for this lesson because they are so easy to grow!

Materials:

Medium Pot or Garden Space

Moisture Control Potting Mix 

A Seed Potato not store bought (eyes are perferable)

Knife

Shake’n Feed All Purpose Plant Food

If you want your potato plant to grow faster, put it in a cool, dry area with plenty of light and let it grow eyes.  Make sure you explain to your children that the eyes are just the sprouts of the potato begging to be planted.

First, cut the potato into pieces making sure that at least one eye is on each piece.

Next, fill your planter 1/2 full with soil and place a few pieces of the potato on the soil with the sprouts pointing toward the sky.

Cover the pieces with soil and have your children make sure they get plenty of water, plant food, and sunshine.

When your children see the plant that grows from the potato they will be amazed!

Your potatoes will be ready to harvest in about 3 months when the vines die.

Try growing these other plants from cuttings:

Grapes

Raspberries

Apple Trees

And let your children experiment with cuttings from other plants!

For more fun garden projects to do with your children, check out The Gro Project.

Visit Miracle-Gro to learn more or watch their video below.

For more gardening activities and inspiration like me on facebook and follow my Pinterest Gardening Board!

The post Gardening with Kids: Growing Plants from Cuttings first appeared on True Aim.