Personal Zen Garden
Construct and maintain a model of a habitat. Your habitat will exist for the school year on the windowsill of room 604 and should not exceed 15cm2 or about 6 in2.
You will visit your Zen garden frequently, not only to relax or re-focus, but to make observations and collect information about live organisms, suggest improvements to the model of the habitat to make it more realistic and habitable for organisms, and to observe and record how life survives in the habitat you created.
This project is open to your interpretation, but it should contain some sort of plant and the medium in which it grows. Terrestrial plants generally require soil while aquatic vegetation is generally growing in soil and water. There are exceptions…perhaps you will choose the very simple potato “garden.” Either a part or the whole of any type of potato may be placed in water or soil, and it should grow. Many types of ornamental houseplants may be grown in the same fashion. Please research your potential choices to determine its likelihood of survival.
If you wish, you may purchase an already complete terrarium or perhaps a kit for creating one. Mr. Blake purchased several cool kits from Walmart on-line, and we will have a chance to observe their progress. Ant farms and Sea Monkeys are acceptable, realizing that the maintenance of these critters will be your responsibility.
Creative would be nice, but both simple and creative gardens may be created free of cost. Please look at images of terrariums on the internet to get ideas of how you might assemble your resources to make a terrarium.
How to Make a Terrarium
Materials:
•a clear container such as a plastic bottle, an old jar, or search the internet for ideas to find ideas for something truly unique!
•gravel, sand, soil, water, or a combination (depending upon your life needs)
•small plants (suited to your growing conditions)
•rocks, branches, moss (please be creative here as well)
•plastic wrap, lid, screen
Method:
•Add a layer of pebbles to provide drainage at the bottom of the container.
•Cover the pebbles with about two inches of topsoil.
•Place a few rocks in the terrarium.
•Add branches, moss and small plants.
•Slightly moisten the terrarium with water. (Be careful not to use too much water.)
•Cover the opening with a sheet of plastic.