Sandwich Bag Compost Experiment

Teaching little ones to care for the environment is very important. With Earth Day coming up, there is no better time to do an activitiy with your little one to show our world a little love.

My family tries really hard to be kind to the Earth. BUT, this winter, with the dreadfully cold weather, and the silly place we put our compost bins, we stopped our composting. We gave some scraps to our chickens, but we threw a lot in the garbage.With the nice weather returning, I wanted to start composting again. But then we got another snowstorm ... an APRIL snowstorm. The long and short of it all, was that I needed a little help getting started. A little motivation. And I have three wonderful little motivators in my home.

I thought we would do a simple little activity on composting, to teach my little ones (and remind myself) about the importance of composting. Why create more garbage when so much of our garbage could be composted, added to our garden, and actually help us grow more food? The trouble with composting with little ones is that it takes quite awhile for food to break down. So I wanted to do an activity on a much smaller scale.

You'll also love: Learning Through Play—What Can You Compost?

The idea is very simple. We used a small sandwich baggie with a zipper top. Then we added our items to be composted, including some vegetables and some egg cartons. You want your compost to be about 60% egg carton and 40% food waste (veggies are fastest). Chop everything up SUPER small to speed along the process.

We zipped the top, but put a little straw in for some air.

We added a little drizzle of water (about two tablespoons or so, just so everything gets mushy).

That's it! Now, we just need to mush it around a little each day, add some water when needed, and be patient. In a few weeks we will have some (albeit not much!) gorgeous, rich compost. Now if that is not a wonderful reminder about the importance of composting, then I'm not sure what is. Perfect for even the littlest of environmentalists!