Compost Skit

Thank you to Jane Gonzales, one of our founding volunteers and owner of Mother's Nature,Inc., 2 for the creation of our original skit.

The compost skit consists of props that are used to demonstrate the components of the compost ecosystem that transform plant material into compost.  The compost skit is an inside alternative on a rainy day when the outside activity involves using compost. 

There are props for and roles for a class of 28 students.  One student is the gardener who wears the apron and waters and stirs all of the ingredients together to make compost.  The rest of the class represents other organisms found in the compost pile.   

Supplies in bag:

1 apron, hose or watering can, garden tool for the gardener
5 brown leaves bibs
5 green leaves bibs

4 fungus bibs

3 bacteria bibs

3 worm bibs

2 centipede bibs

2 ant bibs

3 ground beetle bibs  

A copy of the skit directions

Directions:

• Explain that students will become a piece of a compost pile.  As we create the compost pile, students will understand the process of decomposition.  Decomposition is a process in nature that breaks down dead plants and animals and returns their nutrients to soil. 

• Have the students form a line to wait their turn to enter the compost pile.  Select the gardener who will wear the apron.  Wait to hang each bib on the neck of a student until the item is introduced into the compost pile.  Discuss the item before selecting the next stage of students and passing out the bib to those students.

• The gardener adds brown leaves and green leaves to start the compost pile.  Start at the beginning of the line and distribute the brown and green leaves bibs until completely used.  These students start the compost pile.

• The gardener adds oxygen by stirring the brown and green matter with the garden tool.  This helps the organisms in the compost pile to live.

• The gardener adds water for the browns and greens to absorb the water.  This starts the rot cycle and the process of decomposition.

• The moisture in the pile is perfect for growing fungus.  Fungus decomposes the wet brown and green matter as it gets its food from them.  Fungus is a living thing, but it is not a plant.  Distribute the fungus bibs.  Each student fungus matches up to a green or brown leaf student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

• Conditions are perfect for bacteria to enter the pile.  Bacteria heats up the pile and decomposes brown and green matter and fungus.  You can’t see bacteria in the compost pile, but if you could line up 10,000 bacteria side-by-side, they would equal one inch.  Heat is released from the bacteria eating organic material.  An active compost pile typically generates heat in the range of 90 to 140 degrees.  Distribute the bacteria bibs.  Each student bacteria matches up to a green or brown leaf student or a fungus student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

• Worms locate the compost pile.  Worms eat the brown and green leaves and the bacteria and fungus growing on them.  Worms help the process of decomposition by eating and digesting dead plants and animals.  Worms don’t have chewing mouthparts and instead moisten their food and slurp it in.  Their gizzard grinds it up as the food mixes in with sand and soil bits that the worms also eat.  Distribute the worm bibs.  Each student worm matches up with a brown or green leaves student, a bacteria student, or a fungus student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

• Insects and other invertebrate animals find the compost pile.  What is an invertebrate?  An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone.  Some common invertebrates in the compost pile are ants, beetles, and centipedes.  Distribute the ant bibs.  Ants eat fungus and other invertebrates, including other ants.  Is an ant an insect?  How do you know?  Student ants match up with fungus or another insect. 

• Ground beetles eat other invertebrates.  The ground beetles in our compost pile are shiny and black.  If you scare a ground beetle, the beetle will play dead until the beetle thinks it is safe to move.  Distribute the ground beetle bibs.  Student ground beetles match up with other student insects or worms. 

• Centipedes eat insects and worms.  Centipedes have claws behind their head.  The claws inject venom into prey to paralyze it prior to eating it.  Distribute the centipede bibs.  Student centipedes match up with other student insects or worms.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

Take a look at the links and what is left at the end of the link.  What could happen to the centipede?  Could any of the worms or the beetle be eaten by something outside the compost pile?  Explain that the food chain doesn't end after the ant, beetle, and centipede.  Besides being eaten by an animal outside the pile, they can also die and then become food for the bacteria and fungi.  A compost pile is an example of how nature works in cycles and reuses everything. 

Food chain discussion:

• How do food chains start?  The compost pile started with plants, but for the plants to grow, they needed energy from the sun. 

• A food chain is a community of organisms where each member is eaten by another member.  When a plant or animal is eaten, energy is transferred to the animal that is eating.  Not all of the energy is transferred though; some is converted to heat energy that is released into the habitat or ecosystem.

• Animals that eat plants are called herbivores.  They are considered consumers in the food chain. 

• Animals that eat other animals are called carnivores.  They are also considered consumers and are a link farther along on the food chain since they need the herbivores for their food. 

• Animals that eat both animals and plants are called omnivores, and they are part of the consumer piece of the ecosystem. 

• Decomposers are consumers that feed off dead plants and animals and reduce their remains to minerals and gases again.  Fungi and bacteria are decomposers.