 he kids may hold their noses. They may
complain gleefully that it looks like vomit. But eventually, children will
succumb to the magic and mystery of composting.
 Composting is the living recycling
process that turns nature's trash into treasure garbage into gold, so to
speak. It's catching on throughout the country as a way to reduce garbage
output and enhance the health and vitality of the earth's soil.
For children, composting at home
or at school offers a rich learning opportunity. It often provides a critical
missing link in nature's cycle of growth, decay and renewal. Children generally
understand that seeds sprout and grow into plants that we eat for nourishment.
But our culture, uncomfortable with death and decomposition, tends to cover
up the rest of the cycle.
Composting shows children, almost
before their eyes, how food and plant waste transforms into rich, reuseable
dirt that nourishes the earth and its new growing plants.
"It's important to see that
out of decay and death comes new life and rebirth," says Rob Farmer,
a biodynamic composting expert. "If children experience that process
of transformation in a real, concrete, hands-on way, consistently, it builds
a picture of nature that gets them in closer touch with the reality of the
natural world."
These experiences with the natural
world are even more important for youngsters in today's "virtual reality"
climate, where childhood threatens to become more and more simulated.
How you involve children in the process
of composting can make the difference between disinterest and enthusiasm,
groans and awe.
First, decide on which composting
method to use. Worm boxes, in which worms eat the garbage and enrich the
soil with their castings, might be best for you if you live in an apartment
or have a small amount of kitchen scraps. A simple, backyard heap might
work for your family. Or, you could organize a huge community compost pile
or start one at your child's school.
Whatever the method, be sure to educate
yourself. There are a variety of composting courses and resources throughout
the county, from your local library to the county agriculture office. Also
try the Internet.
If possible, it's a good idea to
expose children to the entire process at once. Let them hold and sniff a
handful of soft, sifted, sweet-smelling compost that's done. Poke a stick
into the center of a compost pile in progress and let them feel the heat
it generates. Then help them get to work on the "yucky" stuff,
the sometimes stinky and sloppy kitchen scraps and the manure that boosts
nutrient value.
"That's part of it," says
Martha Prusinskas, who leads composting activities at the Waldorf School
of San Diego. "They need to know that it's OK to deal with that."
How you describe the process of composting
will vary, depending on age. For younger children, it's important to build
pictures that can live in the child's imagination. Make composting the living,
magical process it really is. For example, you may tell a story of little
gnomes baking bread for Mother Earth because she asked for it. The children
can then help their little friends help the earth. They feel good at the
opportunity to make a contribution to Mother Earth.
"You can't talk about humus
and colloids and organic molecules to 7-year-old kids," says Farmer,
who also teaches gardening at Harriet Tubman Village Charter School. "If
you burden children with that kind of information at too early an age, it
won't live with them."
For older children, composting offers
myriad opportunities for scientific exploration. Older kids can participate
in a much more physical way. Last year, seventh and eighth graders at the
Waldorf School created a huge biodynamic compost pile, measuring about 12
feet long, 15 feet deep and 5 feet high. Biodynamic composting involves
carefully layering straw and alfalfa, manure, other plant material and food
scraps in a tall pile, adding water and concentrated herbal preparations
at each layer to increase the nutrients, microbial action and vitality of
the soil.
The effort took all day, and children
worked in shifts. While some students piled layers, others stirred the buckets
of water with the herbal preparations and others wetted down the straw and
plant material. They sold the resulting compost as a class fund-raiser.
Prusinskas says that when the piles
are complete, they inevitably look like huge loaves of bread, an apt metaphor
for the earth-nourishing properties of compost.
"When the kids see it in the
shape of a loaf, it really clicks," she says. "But the gift is
to let them see it for themselves, not to show it to them."
In her composting-building activities,
Prusinskas sometimes suggests that students write down a wish or something
they want to change about themselves on scraps of paper and add it to the
layering of the compost pile. It's a nice touch, she says, and adds to the
understanding that composting is a transformational process.
Prusinskas other suggestions for
involving children in larger composting projects at home or the neighborhood
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