How do you teach kids to compost? Simple. You learn how to do it yourself, then make it part of your daily routine and family culture.
Today I'm sharing these tips on teaching composting to kids at home. And I'm also sharing my newly updated Kids Can Compost Free Printable Pack. You'll find the link to sign up for it down at the bottom of the post.
Composting is a great way to reduce your family's waste, save money, and encourage your children to learn about nature and gardening.
You'll turn your food scraps and household organic matter into homemade plant food instead of sending it to a landfill or a dump. Use it in your raised cinder block garden beds or permaculture garden.
Composting in The Far North
Since we homeschool, homestead off the grid, and live a ways from a remote highway in Canada's far north, hauling garbage out to the dump is a pain. So we're always looking for ways to minimize our trash.
And because the soil quality here is poor (and we've upped our backyard gardening game in a big way), we're learning how to add nutrients to the soil in our raised garden beds. Composting is a big help.
Now, winter composting was a bit challenging at first. But after a couple of winters, we got the hang of it. We've been composting indoors through the long winter months for the past two years.
Now that our two youngest are old enough to do the composting chores, I decided to include composting as part of our off-grid homeschooling routine. (And by the way, here's a great new list of 20 Best Gardening Books for Kids for 2023.)
What is Composting?
Composting is the natural process that occurs when organic matter breaks down into a granular material. This dark, soil-like matter is rich in nutrients and valuable organic fertilizer for your home garden.
Composting requires little to no investment, yet the payoff is enormous. It saves money, reduces waste, can help you meet your gardening goals, and is a valuable life skill to teach your children.
How to Teach Kids to Compost: 7 Tips to Get You Started
Post our "Can I Compost This?" printable on your fridge or kitchen wall for easy reference. It's part of our Composting for Kids Printable Pack - link at the bottom of this post.
The easiest way to teach kids how to compost at home is to include it in your family routine. Do you use printable chore charts? If so, add a line to include composting chores.
Use these tips to get started.
Teach Kids to Identify Compostable Materials
Your compost is only as good as your ingredients. So ensure you and your children know what can and can't be composted.
Compostable household materials include:
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Eggshells
- Coffee grinds
- Grass clippings
- Leaves, twigs, and branches
- Newspaper
- Coffee filters
Teach Kids What NOT To Compost
Once your children know what can get composted, show them what cannot go in the compost.
If you add these materials, you'll have a slimy, smelly mess. And if you're composting outdoors, you could attract unwanted visitors such as raccoons, neighborhood dogs, foxes, and even bears.
Materials that should NOT get composted include:
- Meat
- Fat
- Bones
- Cheese
- Milk
- Oils
- Pet poop
- Diseased plants or flowers
Even children as young as three or four can learn to identify what is compostable and what isn't.
Countertop Composting is Easy
Make it easy for your kids to compost with a clearly identified compost container. Buy or make an indoor compost bin or pail.
Some people prefer a foot-pedal-style kitchen garbage-can system.
You'll find them in your local hardware store or even online. Some models have three containers: one for trash, one for recyclables, and one for compost.
I loved this idea, and so did our yellow lab, Leo. As far as he's concerned, a floor-level compost bin is a bonus food bowl for him. So, we decided to go with a countertop compost system.
At first, we had a stainless steel counter compost pail, but the charcoal filter didn't seem to do much to keep the smell down. And it wasn't very pleasant to have to replace them. Plus, it was difficult for little hands to lift the heavy lid.
Since we're always trying to find ways to save money, we moved to a coffee-can compost system. We have a large coffee can on the counter right across from our kitchen garbage.
Make it Part of Your Daily Routine
As with most life schooling opportunities for kids, making composting a part of their daily routine from an early age is key to success.
They'll soon get the hang of putting apple cores, banana peels, vegetable scraps, and eggshells into the compost before doing their dishes (hah!)
In our home, compostable scraps go into the coffee can on the kitchen counter. When it gets full, the kids dump it into our indoor compost bin (in the winter) or our outdoor compost bin (in the summer.)
Schedule Weekly Composting Kids Activities
Depending on where you live, you might get a deal on an outdoor composter.
In some parts of Canada, residents can take proof of residence to their local municipal office or waste disposal area and get a free or discounted outdoor composter.
These easy-to-use big bins let you add kitchen compost and yard waste to the top. As the compost "cooks" inside, it eventually turns into dark, soil-like material you can access through a little door at the bottom.
When teaching your kids to compost, schedule weekly composting activities as a regular family chore you can all work on together. Depending on the state of your compost, this could be turning hot compost with a shovel, adding worms, or spreading it in the garden.
In addition to hands-on learning and lessons, composting also allows you many academic lessons. Depending on the age of your children, you could read picture books on composting, watch videos, complete unit studies, or do a science experiment.
Looking for the free Kids Can Compost printable pack? It's right down at the bottom of the post!
Vermicomposting With Kids
Let's face it - fruit and vegetable scraps and coffee grounds might not appeal to all kids. Or adults.
When the "thrill" (and I use the term loosely) of composting wore off on our kids, my husband had a brainwave. It was time for worms.
One of our homeschooling friends gave us a tin of red wiggler worms. We released them into our indoor Rubbermaid compost bin and began our adventures with vermicomposting.
It sits in our water tank room during the winter.
Unless you live off the grid and pump your own water from the lake behind your house the way we do, chances are you don't have a water tank room. That's perfectly fine - keep your compost bin in a room-temperature environment out of the reach of pets.
Adding red wiggler worms helped decrease the odor in our indoor compost bin.
Use Compost in Your Garden Containers and Beds
Once your compost is ready to use, it's time to put it to use.
Gather it in a pail, bin, or basket, and spread it with a small trowel in the garden. Work it into the soil.
Start a container garden if you don't have space for garden beds. This is a good way to introduce gardening to your children.
7 Kids Composting Links
Check out these free online resources for more tips on composting with kids.
- Kids Gardening - Gardening Basics - Composting
- Environmental Protection Agency - Composting at Home
- University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - Kids' Crossing - Nitrogen Research
- Gardening Know-How - Composting With Kids
- QuietHub - Composting for Kids
- Homeschool Giveaways - Composting & Worm Unit Study
- Homegrown Fun - Teach Kids About Composting Video
