Compost Bins and Kids

Redeemer requested a compost bin for their garden, and I think that is a wonderful idea. Teaching kids about compost is a great lesson in science. It can be one of the first lessons to teach kids about ecology and the importance of life cycles, symbiotic relationships, and also insects and bacterium. There are even books for teaching kids about compost.

A great book for teaching kids about compost is "Worms Eat Our Garbage." It's also great for adults learning about worm composting. Vermicomposting is one of the more interesting ways to teach kids about compost because they'll get to see worms eating the organic matter. In the end you'll also end up with some wonderful worm castings for your garden. Here is a link to Washington State Universities guide to creating a cheap and easy worm bin.

WSU's Cheap and Easy Worm Bin.

We'll be giving Redeemer a regular composting bin that doesn't take advantage of worms so much, but rather microorganisms and small insects to break down the organic matter. We'll likely be giving them a bin similar to the one below. These bins can be ordered at your local hardware or garden store.

Compost Bin That Rolls on a Platform

 These bins are very easy to use because they roll and tumble on a platform, there is no need to manually turn your compost with a pitch fork, which can sometimes be very laborious. My compost piles at home are made of old pallets, to form a box, and when it's time to turn the compost it's not the most fun. The benefit of pallet compost bins, is that they are cheap and often free. So if your school is strapped for cash, and you want a compost pile, this is the way to go. Here is a link to some nice pallet compost bins with some additional links on how too's from rootsimple.com. Here is also a link on how to make the simplest of pallet compost bins, like the ones below from livingofthegrid.org. You can always have the kids help make the bins and be in charge of turning the piles.


Livingoffthegrid.com's pallet compost bins.