STORY
Amir had returned to school following another fun school holidays. Amir and his friends had attended the Climate Change Action forum, and now that they were back at school, they decided to do something good for the environment and have fun. They made an effort to pick up rubbish and bin them properly, and help their local Scouts group with their worm farm. At home, Amir also made an extra effort to help his Dad with their worm farm and composting for their garden.
Upon returning to school, Amir was excited to hear his teacher talking about composting. She was asking the class to complete an activity to encourage each other and the school community to learn about composting and why it was important. The school was looking to implement a composting program. This was Amir’s chance to share his knowledge on managing waste and the many benefits of composting!
In this activity, our learners will be creating compost. Compost is created when organic materials such as twigs, leaves, dry grass and kitchen food scraps break down. Composting is a great way to reduce the amount of landfill that is produced, and also provides soil full of good nutrients that can be used on the garden.
Learners will have the opportunity to communicate their learnings through a persuasive writing exercise, supplied in the activity sheet.
For children to:
- follow a procedure to create compost
- understand the need for carbon rich (brown materials) and nitrogen rich (green materials) ingredients to create healthy compost
- promote composting to influence others attitudes and behaviours
- value compost as an important part of soil, which sustains us and other living things who share the earth with us.
Compost can be created at any time of the year. When the weather is hot or cold, the speed at which the composting occurs may be affected because the microorganisms that break down the material may be affected by the temperature.
Did you know?
There are many different types of compost: Bokashi bins, compost tumblers and worm farms (vermicomposting) have been designed to create compost. These technologies help speed up the rate of material decomposition.
Did you know?
Compost should get hot when the microbes break down the organic material. Temperatures often reach between 50-75 degrees Celsius.
Did you know?
The Mallee Fowl is an Australian bird that makes compost. It creates a compost pile to incubate its eggs. Heat is released by the compost pile as the microbes break it down. This heat then incubates the Mallee Fowl’s eggs.
Did you know?
Detritivores are animals that consume dead things. Earthworms are a well-known detritivore.
Introduction
There are many different ways to create compost. This activity has been designed with the needs of the educators in mind and employs a simple method of composting. Before beginning this activity, it is important to gather the materials required, including the compost bin and a mixture of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials. Selecting an appropriate site for your compost is also important; choosing a site with good shade and direct contact with the soil is necessary for your compost to work.
We encourage our Junior Landcarers to learn more about soil by exploring these other learning activities: more than just dirt, soil food web, creating a worm farm, and the installing a no-dig-garden bed activities.
*The time allocation is based on materials being sourced prior to commencing construction.
Checklist
Instructions
STEP 1
Prepare
Source the materials for the compost.
You will need a mixture of materials to compost, these are known as ‘browns’ and ‘greens’:
Carbons (browns) could be Autumn leaves, pea straw, lucerne hay, sugarcane mulch, moistened cardboard, shredded newspaper (not glossy paper).
Nitrogen (greens) could be lawn clippings, garden prunings, green leaves, kitchen peelings (too many food scraps can attract rodents see step 3) and coffee grounds. A ratio of about 60% “green” material to 40% “brown” material is ideal, but not essential.
STEP 2
Explore
Before you head outside, encourage the children to think about how people use soil.
As a group, head outside to the proposed site.
Ideally, the site should be shaded most of the day, as the shade helps keep the compost at the right temperature.
The compost bin also needs to have direct contact with the soil beneath (i.e. not raised, or on concrete), so worms and other detritivores can move in and find the compost.
To prevent rodents ensure that your compost bin has no holes around the base and keep the lid closed.
As a group, investigate areas where decomposition of leaves and twigs occur naturally. This may happen in a depression in the ground, or under a bush. Examine how the leaves at the surface look, compared to the leaves that are further underground.
STEP 3
Build and monitor the compost pile
First, dig the compost bin into the ground to a depth of about 10 to 15 centimetres. This will help to deter rodents from entering.
Next, construct a layer of sticks on top of the soil. This will help with aeration. Begin layering your green and brown material, stopping once you get to about 15 cm from the top of the barrel. Finally, water the compost to help the composting process begin.
STEP 4
Promote change
It’s time to spread the word about composting to help others learn from your experience.
Use the persuasive writing frame in the activity sheet to promote the benefits of composting.
Keep monitoring your compost over time to see whether you need to give it any assistance. Use the ADAM principles to assess whether it is working: Remember, ADAM stands for Aliveness, Diversity, Aeration and Moisture. If it is not working, look for what is missing. See educator notes for more information.
The time of year and weather in your area will affect how quickly the process takes. You will know that it is time to use your compost when it looks and smells like rich, dark earth. It should also be crumbly to touch.
Eventually your compost is going to become ‘black gold’; a valuable resource that can be used on garden beds.
Extension Activity
Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the compost regularly and record the results in a graph.
Use the World as an Apple exercise to illustrate how important soil is and the scarcity of this resource (see the educator notes for more information about this exercise).
Curriculum and Framework Links
SCIENCE
Year 2: ACSSU030, ACSHE035
Year 3: ACSSU044, ACSIS054
Year 4: ACSHE062, ACSIS064
Year 5: ACSHE083
Year 6: ACSSU094, ACSHE100
Year 7: ACSHE120
Year 8: ACSHE135
ENGLISH
Year 2: ACELY1671
Year 3: ACELY1682
Year 4: ACELY1694
Year 5: ACELY1704
Year 6: ACELY1714
Year 7: ACELY1725
Year 8: ACELY1736
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Year 2: ACHASSI042
Year 3: ACHASSI052, ACHASSI059, ACHASSI060
Year 4: ACHASSI080, ACHASSK088, ACHASSK090
Year 5: ACHASSI102, ACHASSK120
Year 6: ACHASSI122, ACHASSI130
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGIES
Year 2: ACTDEK003
Year 3 & 4: ACTDEP017
Year 5 & 6: ACTDEP019
Year 7 & 8: ACTDEK032
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Year 2: ACPPS018, ACPPS022, ACPPS023
Year 3 & 4: ACPPS036, ACPPS040, ACPPS041
Year 5 & 6: ACPPS054, ACPPS059
Year 7 & 8: ACPPS073, ACPPS078
ETHICAL UNDERSTANDING
Exploring values, rights and responsibilities
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CAPABILITY
Social awareness
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Outdoor Learning
CROSS CURRICULUM PRIORITY
Sustainability
MY TIME, OUR PLACE: FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL AGE CARE
Outcome 2 and 4
Reference List
ONLINE RESOURCES
Use this Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network map to find a City Farm or Community Garden near you to get some ideas for your food garden.
This World as an Apple Activity provides a powerful introduction to the availability of the world’s soil.
WATCH
Check out our other “Making Compost” videos on YouTube:
- What can you put into a compost?
- What types of compost can you make?
- How long will our compost take?
- What is compost?
- The compost dance
Learn from ABC’s Gardening Australia, with this great demonstration of compost making, this can be used before you begin this activity.
Be inspired to start a food waste initiative with this 6 minute story from Gardening Australia about how a school and community garden collect food scraps every Friday to build a communal compost.
We value your feedback
When you have finished this learning activity, please tell us what you think with our survey.
Your feedback will help Landcare Australia improve the activities in the Junior Landcare Learning Centre.
Why not try one of our other Junior Landcare learning activities?
Love Letters to the Land
Biodiversity|First Nations Perspectives|Food Production|Waste Management
Creating a worm farm
Waste Management
Caring for our coasts: beach clean-up
Waste Management
Waterways: clean-up
Waste Management