Camp Creek Press

Live pets are wonderful to have at home or in the classroom, but if you can't have something alive -- or can't keep something alive -- or are unwilling to purchase several very similar-looking hamsters in a row (I'm not pointing any fingers here, Emily) -- a wonderful and easy display for your science table or child's bedroom is a terrarium or paludarium (if you are willing to buy a series of very similar-looking goldfish).

The above display, so inexpensive and easy, was cobbled together after the untimely demise of a pair of hermit crabs. So inexpensive! So great!

Martha Stewart Kids magazine had a great article on making paludariums -- a combination of a terrarium and an aquarium. Her version is quite involved, as you might imagine, and looks beautiful. I could imagine, however, an easier version (my version is always easier) combining, say, an inexpensive aquarium like the one above (less than $10) holding plants and a lift-out large glass jar holding a couple of tiny fish. In fact, that sounds like something my younger son would love, so maybe we'll try that as a project.

With one inexpensive aquarium, you can create a lot of different looks over the year: a desert with sand and miniature palm (live, of course) or cacti (buy the needle-less ones!) .. then a beach with shells .. then a forest with plastic animals and dense foliage .. then a boggy area, perhaps with a guest toad. (Keep the lid on if you want to keep tabs on your toad. Right, Emily? And plan on letting him go in a few days or needed to clean the tank.)

And remember: plastic dinosaurs never die. And you don't have to clean their tank.

Martha's paludarium online (unfortunately picture's not so great on the site; i'm looking for the original issue with much nicer pictures)

Build a Terrarium (National Geographic)