How to Start a Worm Farm with Kids

← Free resource hub

A worm farm is the perfect first homesteading project: it's cheap, it fits a balcony, it turns your kitchen scraps into the best plant food going, and it's a living science lab your kids will genuinely love checking on. Composting worms can eat up to their own body weight in scraps each day.

It's also a brilliant introduction to decomposition, soil health and the idea that in nature there's no such thing as "waste" — only food for something else.

What you need

A worm farm — a stacked store-bought one, or a DIY tub or polystyrene box with drainage holes (see the options below).
Composting worms — not ordinary garden worms. Ask for tiger worms / reds (e.g. Eisenia fetida) from a garden centre, a produce store, or a friend's farm. You'll want around 1,000 to start (about 250 g).
Bedding: damp shredded newspaper, cardboard and a handful of soil or finished compost.
A shady, sheltered spot. Worms hate heat and frost — this matters a lot in the Australian summer.

Choosing or building your farm

Stacked tray systems (the classic ones) are tidy, easy for kids, and make harvesting simple. Best for balconies and small yards.
A repurposed tub or foam box is the cheapest start — drill drainage holes, raise it on bricks, and catch the liquid in a tray.
An in-ground worm tower (a pipe sunk into a garden bed, drilled with holes) lets worms come and go and feed your soil directly. Great if you have a bed.
Bokashi isn't a worm farm but pairs beautifully with one — it ferments all food scraps (including meat and citrus) which you then bury or feed on, in small amounts, to a separate compost.

Setting it up

Lay 5–10 cm of damp bedding in the working tray.
Add the worms and let them settle in the dark for a day before feeding.
Start feeding small amounts of scraps, buried under the bedding.
Cover with a damp sheet of hessian, newspaper or a worm blanket to keep it dark and moist.

What worms love (and hate)

✅ Yes: fruit & veg scraps, crushed eggshell, tea leaves, coffee grounds, damp paper and cardboard, a little cooked plain rice or pasta.
❌ No / go easy: citrus, onion, garlic, chilli, dairy, meat, oily food, bread (mould), and anything salty or processed.
Golden rule: if it stinks or attracts flies, you're overfeeding — stop and let them catch up. Feed to the worms' appetite, not your scrap supply.

Troubleshooting (the bits no one tells you)

It smells bad / rotting: overfeeding or too wet. Stop feeding, add dry bedding (shredded paper), and stir gently.
Vinegar flies or maggots: food left uncovered. Always bury scraps and keep the cover on; cut back the amount.
Ants: the farm's too dry — moisten it, and stand the legs in trays of water as a moat.
Worms trying to escape / climbing the lid: conditions are off — usually too wet, too acidic (cut the citrus), or a coming change in weather. Check moisture and pH.
Worms dying in a heatwave: move to deep shade, drape a wet towel over the farm, even pop a frozen water bottle inside. Above ~30°C they struggle.

Harvesting the gold

Worm castings (the dark, crumbly stuff) are a premium soil conditioner — dig them through pots and beds.
Worm "wee" (the liquid from the tap) makes a fantastic fertiliser, diluted to weak-tea colour before use.

Easy harvesting methods:

Migration: stop feeding one side/tray and bait the other — the worms move across, leaving castings behind to scoop out.
Light sort: tip a pile onto a sheet in the light; worms burrow down, and you skim castings off the top in layers.

Seasonal care in Australia

Summer: shade is everything. Keep it cool and a touch moist; feed less in extreme heat.
Winter: worms slow right down in the cold — feed less, and they'll bounce back as it warms. A sheltered spot prevents frost damage.

Make it learning, not just a chore

Maths: weigh the scraps each week; graph how much the worms get through; work out a greens-to-browns balance.
Science: worms breathe through their skin (so it must stay damp), have no eyes but hate light, are hermaphrodites, and have five "hearts." Every fact is a lesson, and the whole bin is a working model of decomposition.
Writing: keep a worm-farm diary; write a "care instructions" sign for the family.
Responsibility: it's a living thing in a child's care — gentle, real and daily.

➡️ Take it further in The Nature-Led Year

Starting your compost/worm farm is Term 1, Week 8 ("The compost cycle begins"), complete with a decomposer hunt, a food-web drawing, a greens-to- browns ratio maths task and a buried-samples experiment that runs across the whole term. Go to Term 1 · Buy the planner.