International Playthings Wild Science Worm Farm Kids Toy Product Review

With the Worm Farm from Wild Science, kids will discover the amazing abilities of worms, and their importance in our ecosystem through a series of safe and humane experiments using real worms! This kit features a high quality, large volume worm colony that allows children to plant seed and grow vegetation in soil strata that is separated by colored sand horizons, designed for worm teaching activities. Worms not included.

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY RATINGS

EASE OF USE

The Worm Farm from Wild Science wasn't exactly difficult to use, but we can't say that it was easy either! First off - obviously, there are no worms included. So you have a few choices, dig in the yard, or seek out a pet store or bait shop that sells worms. Next, the soil itself isn't included, so depending on where you live, getting your hands on some good, clean, usable soil may be a bit on the difficult side.

But let's assume you now have all the materials you need. Assembling the farm is not something a little kid is going to be able to easily handle on their own. There is room for the soil to go in, and then layer in the colored sand, but it takes a steady (adult) hand to get the horizons straight. Same if you are going to plant seeds (not included either). Once that is all set, kids will love dropping the worms in and watching them work.

So - is it easy to use? It's not difficult, but it takes a good amount of adult involvement to get set-up the right way.

DURABILITY

We found no durability issues when it came to the Worm Farm itself. Obviously, you or your child will need to provide proper food and nutrition for the worms to live on - but simple table scraps, lettuce, fruit rinds can do the trick.

VISUAL APPEAL

The Worm Farm looks really cool - it does, there's no denying that. The style itself, the stickers you add - all look great. The only problem is setting up the farm to look anything like the pictures on the box is extremely difficult (if possible at all). The idea of layering your soil with the colored sand to be able to track worm movement and tunnels is great in theory, very difficult in execution - even for parents. Just be warned - if you turn this over to your kids to assemble on their own, they won't be happy with the colored sand lines. And if they ask you to handle that for them, even with a lot of patience, it will still be difficult to make your worm farm look like the one on the box.

FUNCTIONALITY

Functionality is a tricky category to rate the Worm Farm on. Of course you start by setting the farm up - and that is a lot of fun and pretty involved. From there it is just maintenance and observation. Not that maintaining and observing isn't fun for kids - its just that there isn't too much more to do beyond that.

COST EFFICIENCY

Even without the worms included the price tag that comes in just under $20 for the Worm Farms seems reasonable. Worms through your local pet store or bait shop are inexpensive - and you only need a small handful. The Worm Farm itself is very well-made and will be usable time and time again.

ORIGINALITY

Worm Farms aren't exactly an all-new idea - kids have loved nature-based toys like this for generations. We do like the unique styling, and we also like that you can build and connect additional Wild Science components to create an even larger eco-system.

OVERALL RATING

Kids that have a love of animals or a love of science, just love toys like this one. And the Worm Farm from Wild Science won't disappoint. Just remember, their is a lot of set-up involved, but that's the fun part! Kids will most likely need a bit of assistance and supervision, along with some help buying the worms. But trust us, the look in their eyes as they load their worms in, track movements and feed them is worth the work!