Ideas.... - Roseville,CA

Start a worm compost bin. It's a good ecological choice and she'll get to see the worms doing their thing. She'll probably love feeding them food scraps and she can delight at the lovely soil they produce.

V.,
My son had two worms in a tiny plastic terrarium and added lettuce, veggie peels, water, etc. about every three days and the tiny worms grew to be thick and long. He had them for about a month and a half. We then put them into the tomato plants because they needed to "start working in a bigger area." They are pretty indestructible. My son brought them for sharing day at school and were handled by every kid there. They were fun and he still talks about "Kiwi and Seaweed."
I'd say let your daughter have a blast and get dirty!

There are worm farms - kinda like ant farms. I'm not 100% sure what they eat, but they sure do like my compose pile. Which is just leaves and my scrapes from my summer cooking & canning. Every year when I empty out the compose pile to start new - I find tons of HUGE worms... some are almost the size of little snakes. But I'm sure if you got a worm farm it would let you know what to feed them - I know ant farms do. Plus, it should give you a form to order worms by mail if it's to cold to get them from outside.

We have composting worms in our backyard. They will eat just about anything. Newspaper, any table scraps, green waste. There are a couple of local places that sell worms by the pound (and it is pretty inexpensive). If given enough space and food the worm population will double every few months. I know they do sell worm bins that can be kept indoors (we keep ours outside and created our own) but I believe the indoor ones aren't see through, so she wouldn't be able to watch them that way. My kids love the worms and go out with us regularly to check on them and water their pile etc.

I run a program called Caterpillar Kids Club here in the bay area for kids ages 18 months-6 years old. I feel very strongly that kids need to spend time bug hunting, creek walking and exploring in nature. I think it's great that you're encouraging your daughter to spend time outdoors, looking for worms and other insects. Worms need lots of loose soil, leaves, grass and rocks for shade. A decent size bug box will do fine as a home for the worm. Or, if you have a plastic container with holes in the top for air, that will work as well. Keep encouraging your little one's love for nature, this is the age when you will have a great impact on her feelings about the outoors and preserving our beautiful earth.

Go to your local pet store and get a critter cage (I think theya re actually called that) that is plastic with a vented top. Fill it with dirt from your garden, and ad worm. People use them to create compost by adding kitchen garbage and lettign the worms eat it and then poop it into compost. So, you get the idea about what to feed it - basically, very soft "foods". You will need to change the dirt every month or so to keep it clean since you are not trying to use the compost, but keep the worm healthy.

We build a fort out of blankets and my boys watch a video or look at a book with a flashlight. Needs no supervision, but need a not-to-hot flashlight.

Hello V.,
As the mother of 5 and a grandmother of several children let me say that if you go to the science section of the Discovery Store or Toys R US, you can find " Ant Farms and Worm Farms". These are wonderful for a child to see and learn from.
I have found that Leggo's, blocks, and cardboard boxes make great "alone time" toys. We are also getting into Lincoln Logs. All of theese are physical and creative. Good Luck

On rainy days, give her some blankets and/or towels so she can make a tent or a series of tents over the furniture. My kids loved doing this and it kept them occupied for hours! They thought it was great fun to eat their sandwich in there! Books, stuffed animals and a pillow were inside, too. A flashlight would be fun, too.

If she likes worms, how about going outside on a rainy day to see all the different ones that came out? Properly dressed, of course. Jumping in puddles with rain boots is also fun.

Another rainy day idea: Set up the bathroom for lots of tub fun. Line the floor with towels, add some bubble bath, then bring in squirt and spray bottles, sponges, plastic cups, dolls or other waterproof toys, bathtub paints, shaving cream...Let the kid/s have a blast! At the same time, you sit in the bathroom and read a book or magazine. Good for at least an hour of good clean fun.

Check into composting worms. Your daughter will have a great time with the worms and you will benefit from great compost for your garden.

what cool pets! I would start out with a small terrarium. No more than a gallon. Go on-line and research "vermiculture". The professional worm farmers can give you an idea of soil, water, temperature requirements, etc. Worms eat most any vegitative matter (table scraps). They love avacado, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. From previous experience with a science project, I would suggest using a screen top for the terrarium or not filling it all the way to the top.

HI V.-
A member at the church I work for owns a company called Insectlore. You can check out their website at http://www.insectlore.com/
The coolest thing is that you can do everything from worms to butterflies.
I think the outside worm bins are really cool, but if you really want them in the house, the other mama's who suggested the terrarium are right. They aren't too big and you can keep them inside. Good luck and have fun!
P.S. Have you thought about some of those discovery kids videos and maybe planning a trip to a science center? It could be a "reward" for good behavior, etc. Or a great birthday present, just parents and child, getting into all the wonderful, natural goo that nature has to offer!!!

I googled "Indoor Worm Bin in 30 minutes" and it sounds fun. I am going to try it. My son's preschool had one of these bins in the classroom and the kids would throw their lunch scraps in it. Eductional as well as recycling organic matter.
GOOD LUCK.

make a wormery. saw this on nick jr. you take soil,sand, veggie peels n dried leaves. cut the top off of a soda bottle and start doing them in layers. soil,sand,peels, leaves until you have filled it almost to the top..you decide depending on bottle size and you dont really want them crawling out.when you have filled to your desired height you add a lil water to moisten. Then just get some worms prob about 3 to 5. and they will do the rest. have fun!!

Updated

also have you thought about getting her some playdough? that is fun indoor activitymy son really enjoys it.

I found a program on the Field Museum website about making your own worm farm. Even getting your worms from the outside. I need to look it up because we are going to do worms this spring in Homeschool.
I googled Field Museum Chicago. YOu might also try googling Smithsonian too.
I remember they start with newspaper and a 10 gallon aquarium will work.

For the worms- I know that they kind of tunnel through dirt, leaves and like someone else said, compost, eating as they go.
My suggestion for whenever kids want to bring in bugs is set a time limit. Let them know that these are wild creatures that live outside, but they can visit us for a couple of days, then they must go home. My son and I had a great experience in kindergarten, bringing in bugs to visit his class. We used big clear plastic containers and duct taped window screen over the top. We had lady bugs, aphids, caterpillars, beetles and more. For the kids it was as exciting as a trip to the zoo.

Just as general suggestion: I found this website a while ago. It seems very interesting because you can search activities, by time, location, and child's age. It's all base on nature, fun and family...I haven't used it much myself ;-), but I keep it in mind...
http://www.naturerocks.org/