Just for kids

Story by Kim Tannas
Illustrations by Cindy Revell

Digging It!

Spring is here and the farmers are out in their fields planting crops like wheat, barley and canola for the upcoming growing season. Do you know what it takes to get things growing?
Get your hands dirty with some great ideas and activities from the
garden and learn how worms, dirt, seeds and other factors all work together to make it happen.

Can you help Wendell the Worm find his way through the dirt maze to his little brother Wally?

Did you know?

•    The largest earthworm ever found was in South Africa and measured 22 feet (6.7 metres) long!

•    A single shovelful of soil can contain more different kinds of organisms than live above the ground in the entire Amazon rainforest.

•    There are about 2,700 different kinds of earthworms. Earthworms keep the soil rich and fertile by tunneling through it, creating passageways for air and water to circulate and adding valuable nutrients like nitrogen to the soil.

•    In one acre of land, there can be more than a million earthworms.

Dirt Cake

A fun way to gross out your friends. Do not freeze.

1 lb (454 g)            package of cream-filled chocolate cookies
1⁄4 cup (50 mL)    butter, softened
8 oz (250 g)           cream cheese, softened
1 cup (250 mL)     icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL)          vanilla flavouring
4                              instant chocolate pudding mixes, 4 servings per box
6 cups (1.35 L)     milk
4-1⁄3 cups (1 L)    frozen whipped topping, thawed
15                           gummy worms

Blend cookies in a blender or food processor until they become fine crumbs. Set aside. Combine butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla flavouring in a large bowl. Beat on low speed to mix, then medium speed until smooth. Add the chocolate pudding powders and milk to the bowl. Beat on low speed to combine. Fold the whipped topping into the pudding mixture with a rubber spatula. Assemble in an ungreased 9 x 13 inch (22 x 33 cm) pan or sterilized flower pot(s) in layers as follows: start with a third of the cookie crumbs, then half of the pudding mixture, a third of the cookie crumbs, the remaining half of the pudding mixture, then the remaining cookie crumbs. Tuck the ends of the gummy worms in the cookie “dirt.” Chill for at least three hours. Serve with a clean garden trowel or toy sand shovel if serving in the flower pot.

Reprinted from Kids Cooking © Company’s Coming Publishing Limited

10 Great Projects for Budding Gardeners

1.   Plant a zoo garden – Ask your parents for a space in the garden where you can plan your own animal-inspired theme garden with plants like turtle-head, foxglove, beebalm and lamb’s ears.

2.   Sprout some seeds – It’s never too early to sprout some wheatgrass or beans in an indoor container. 

3.   Make a water garden – With adult supervision and some advice from your local garden centre, you can build your own water garden in a simple wading pool.

4.   Build a bird feeder or bird bath – Make a simple bird bath or use a bird feeder kit to build a welcome spot for your feathered friends. Fill the feeder with some Alberta-grown bird seed.

5.   Press flowers – Pressing flowers and leaves takes patience (they can take up to four weeks to dry) but the finished product works great for a variety of crafts like stationery, picture frames and bookmarks. 

6.   Grow a potato plant – Place a potato in water and watch it sprout leaves and roots. Take one of the sprouts and transplant it into a planter with potting soil. Place in a sunny spot, water when dry and watch your potato plant grow.

7.   Show your artistic side – Decorate some terra cotta planters or make hand-painted plant markers for the garden.

8.   Get inspired with books – Stories like The Secret Garden, The Carrot Seed or Miss Rumphius will have you dreaming about flowers and gardens before you even get outdoors.

9.   Pot some edible flowers – Nasturtiums, pansies, calendulas and violas are a few that can delight both the eyes and the taste buds. Flowers can be added to salads or used as decorations on casseroles or cakes. Use extreme caution, though. Any plant or flower should only be eaten with an adult’s permission.