Wiggly Worms

What do worms look like?

• Worms are long, thin and soft.

• Their head is rounded and their tail is more pointed.

• Worms do not have legs.

• A saddle around the worms middle makes a slippery slime called mucus. This helps worms to move easily through the soil.

Tail

Head

Saddle

What do worms look like?

• Worms have no eyes or ears. Its whole body can taste and feel.

• A long thin tube carries red blood all along the worms body.

• The body is made up of lots of segments. Each segment has a few small stiff bristles that help it to move by gripping the sides of the borrow as the worm pulls itself along.

What do worms look like?

• Worms come in all shapes and sizes. • Some can be as long as your finger or as long as the

length from your fingertips to your elbow. • The smallest earth worm is only the size of your

smallest fingernail.• The largest earthworms can grow to be as big as 4

adults lying end to end and are as fat as two fingers!!

How do worms move?

• A worm’s body is filled with a watery liquid. This means the worm can squeeze its body into different shapes.

• To move forward, the worm makes its front end long and thin. Then it digs its bristles into the ground and pulls its tail end forward. Next it digs in the bristles on the tail end and stretches forward again.

Where do worms live?

• Worms live in burrows in the soil.

• They often live near the surface.

• In very dry or cold weather they can tunnel deeper than the height of your teacher!

What do worms do?• Worms live most of their life

underground.• They push their way through

the soil, or dig with their mouths.

• Worms are important to farmers as they eat dead leaves and this puts minerals back into the soils which helps the crops to grow.

• As the worms burrow, they let air and rain into the soil, this keeps it light and airy and helps the crops grow.

• A worm can move about 25 times its weight of soil a year!

Interesting facts

• In 2½ acres of farmland there are about 2million worms!

• The longest earthworm found was 6.7metres long!

• If you cut a worm in half it will grow a new tail!

• Worms can live for about 10 years!

• Worms have 5 hearts!