Compost Bin Coloring Page

This compost bin coloring page shows what goes on inside a pile of garden scraps. A wooden bin has been cut open at the front, so you can see the layers stacked up: dry leaves, kitchen peels, dark soil and more leaves on top. Three smiling worms wiggle through the middle, and one of them wears a very small grin.

On the left, a girl tips a pail of peels into the top of the bin. A garden bed with carrots and a shovel sit beside her. It is a medium page for ages 5 to 11 and takes about half an hour.

Peek into the layers

The cut away view is the best part of this drawing. Kids can see the whole recipe at once, and that makes the idea easy to talk about. Ask your child to point out the banana peel, the apple core, the eggshell and the leaf. Each one is in the pile, and each one will break down in time.

Then find the worms. They are the workers. Before you color them, ask what your child thinks they are doing down there.

Compost bin coloring page color plan

Compost is mostly brown, and a page of all brown gets dull quickly. Break it up by giving each layer its own look.

• Dry leaves: orange, gold and a rusty red.
• Food scraps: yellow peel, red apple, green bits, and a pale egg shell.
• Soil: dark brown with a little black pressed on top.
• Worms: soft pink, with a darker band near the head.
• Wood bin: a warm tan with thin brown lines for the grain.

Color the soil layer last. Dark crayon rubs off easily, so if you do it first it can end up on everything else. For the girl and the garden, pick cheerful colors, since the bright yellow of her boots will lift the whole sheet.

Browns, greens and what the worms want

Compost needs a mix. Gardeners talk about browns, like dry leaves and twigs, and greens, like fruit scraps and grass clippings. Add water and air, and tiny living things get to work breaking it all down. In time you get dark, crumbly stuff that smells like a forest floor after a long summer rain, and plants love it. The EPA guide to composting at home has a full list of what can go in the pile and what should stay out.

Your child may ask why the girl in the picture is not adding meat or cheese. Those are left out of a backyard bin because they smell and draw pests.

Try a bottle compost on a windowsill

You can show the same idea at home in a clear jar or a cut plastic bottle. Put in a layer of soil, a layer of torn leaves, then a few bits of fruit peel. Add a little water and poke holes in the lid. Set it on a sunny sill and draw what you see each week.

After a few weeks the peels will start to shrink and turn dark. Compare your jar with the compost bin coloring page and see which layers look the same. A science notebook page works well here, and even first graders can draw simple before and after pictures.

Small jobs for Earth Day week

Kids can start a scrap pail for one week. Keep a small bowl by the sink and let your child decide what goes in. Weigh it on the kitchen scale on Friday. It is often a surprise how much a family throws out.

Classrooms can do the same with a snack bucket after recess. Fruit peels go in the bucket and wrappers do not, so sorting becomes a daily habit.

Keep working in the garden

Follow the scraps with our planting a tree page, since good compost feeds young trees. Sorting fans will like the recycling bin drawing. There are many more in our Earth Day coloring pages.

Questions