Kids’ Edible Gardens: bugs and compost
As we reach the shortest day for 2017, we are remembering summer-fun in the garden at Canvastown and Fairhall schools.
In Term 1, as part of their investigation into ecology and diversity in the garden, the children at Canvastown School went on an insect hunt, learning to recognise the insects that live in their garden (top left image). Insects have an important role to play in an organic garden, we have to care for them as much as we do the plants we grow. The children wanted to encourage more insects to live and work in their garden so they decided to make a bug hotel out of recycled pallets and building materials as well as natural materials from around the school (bottom left image).
Meanwhile, the children in the junior syndicate at Fairhall School spent time examining compost from different sources and searching for the creatures that live in the compost (top right image). They found lots of worms, a few slaters and the odd spider or two. It was great to see how many students recognised good compost when they saw it! Following the topic further they donned chef hats to make mini compost in a bottle. This allowed them to observe what happened to the materials as they decomposed down to compost.