Sensory Play for Kids: Dirt and Worms Coffee Gelatin Excavation

Today I have another creepy crawler activity to share with you…excavating worms from gelatin “mud!” This activity was inspired by this awesome frozen gelatin fossil excavation over at Fun at Home with Kids. I loved the idea of using frozen gelatin as a sensory medium, so I adapted it for our current worm obsession for some squishy worm-themed sensory play. Here’s how we did it:

Sensory Play for Kids: Dirt and Worms Coffee Gelatin Excavation

To make the gelatin “mud,” I used a box of Knox brand unflavored gelatin, water, and a cup of hot coffee. Following the proportions of gelatin to liquid given on the Knox Blox recipe on the back of the box, I dissolved four packets of the gelatin in one cup of cold water and let it stand for one minute. Meanwhile, I emptied my cup of coffee into a measuring cup (it came to about 1.5 cups) and added enough water to it to make three cups total. I heated the coffee/water mixture to boiling on the stove and then added it to the cold water/gelatin mixture. I also added some of the used coffee grounds to make it look more like dirt.

After the gelatin was completely dissolved, I poured some of it into some small cake molds, added some fake worms from the fishing section of our local Walmart, and put them in the freezer to set up overnight. I poured the rest into a 9×9 glass pan, added more worms, and put that one in the fridge (I wanted to have some that wasn’t completely frozen in case the twins weren’t impressed by the frozen texture of the gelatin).

The next morning, we were ready to explore our “mud” and worms! This was supposed to be a messy play date with Tex (this would be a great activity for group play), but the twins had a nasty cold, so we decided to refrain from spreading germs beyond our household. Since it was raining outside, I spread a tarp on the kitchen floor and gave each toddler a plastic tray with a frozen “worm cake.” I also gave them a bowl of warm water and some turkey basters.

The twins tried several different methods of rescuing the worms from the frozen “mud.” They tried pulling,

hammering (totally his idea),

and dribbling warm water with the turkey baster. As the frozen gelatin melted, the texture changed- it was kinda rubbery, kinda squishy, and most interestingly, acted like a sponge! If you squeezed it in your fist, water would pour out just like a real sponge.

After some work, they finally got some worms!

One package of worms I bought ended up having “double tails” to attract fish. Will was SO unhappy about these…he kept saying, “Dat not wight, Mommy! Worms not have two wegs!”

After that, I brought out the non-frozen pan of gelatin and let the twins have at it. Overall, I think they enjoyed this one more- the icy gelatin might best be reserved for kids slightly older than mine. They were a little frustrated by it and didn’t appreciate the texture as much as I predicted. They just wanted the worms!

It was SO interesting to see how they played with this pan. I instead of just immediately destroying the jello, they carefully pulled out the worms from the top and then examined the impressions the worms left behind. Because we had just done our worm observation tower, they were familiar with how worms tunnel through dirt and tried to recreate that with the gelatin. In the picture above, Sydney is pushing her worm back through its “tunnel.”

Eventually, they dug into the rest of the jello to find all the worms that were buried more deeply in the “mud.”

Then, all the worms (and most of the gelatin) got a “bath” in the bowl of warm water.

You might also like: