Soda Bottle Terrariums Views
This year there was a whole (small) section of kids who had entered soda bottle terrariums in the fair. I squealed when I saw them, disrupting several retired ladies looking at roses who scowled at me. Get off our lawn, I’m sure they were thinking. No way, ladies. This is my lawn too and you’ll have to fight me for it. Don’t make me get off my Rascal.
1. Find an appropriate container. Glass jars, fish bowls and tanks, clear plastic bottles and food containers, and the like can all make fine terrariums. Just make sure you have enough room to reach your hand into your container for planting and maintenance. You may choose to create one large terrarium as a class project (using a large fish tank perhaps) or you may opt to have students make smaller individual terrariums. Many teachers make terrariums by cutting off the tops of large, clear plastic soda bottles, leaving a container that is approximately 8 inches tall. After planting in the soda bottles, you can either tape the top back onto the soda bottle or just cover it tightly with plastic.
Students examine life in a terrarium and relate it to life in a larger environment. In this terrarium lesson, students examine how living and non-living things work together by examining the changes in a terrarium. They make terrariums using soda bottles before looking at the water cycle, light variations, and relating it to larger environments. They record their daily observations.
Caterpillars enjoy moving around in grass as well as damp soil so by applying water periodically, the grass can grow easily and the soil can stay moist. The benefit of making terrariums for caterpillars out of soda bottles is that by doing so, a child will understand the concept of why people should not waste resources while simultaneously observing life cycles of plants and insects.
Soda Bottle Terrariums Images
