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Ant Picnic
Q: What do ants take on a picnic?
A: Everything they can carry!
That's a funny riddle, but is it true? Let's find out what ants really like to eat.
What you need:
- paper plate
- magic marker
- six different foods (sugar, cracker crumbs, lettuce, crumbled cheese, banana, peanut butter, for example)
- magnifying glass
What you do:
- Plan your
menu. Use the marker to divide the plate into six sections. Set it
outside on a warm day, in a spot where you've seen ants. Then put a
different food in each section of the plate.
- Sit back and
watch. It will take the ants a while to find their picnic. But how
long? Keep checking back until they do. Once the ants have discovered
their good luck, start watching what they do.
- Talk about what
you see. Ask your child: What foods are the ants' favorites? How do
you know? Are they eating the food now or just carrying it away? If
they're eating it, describe how they do it. What do they do with food
that's hard to handle?
Learn more:
- Make an obstacle course. Ants leave drops of scent as a roadmap to tell each other how to find the food. That's why they travel in a line. What
happens if that scent trail is disturbed? Put an object over the path.
What do the ants do? Wipe away a bit of the trail with your hand. What
do the ants do now?
- Visit their home. Follow the ants
from the food to their mound. Have your child imagine what lies below
their front door.
- Watch the ants at work. A
magnifying glass will give you a closer look, but do not hurt the ants
by aiming sunlight through the glass onto them. Ask your child: How do
the workers carry food back home? Can you find the soldier ants guarding
the trail and the opening to their mound? How do they look different?
How do these differences help them with their jobs? (Soldier ants are
bigger and have bigger jaws. They are built to be good fighters.)
Activity: Susan Goodman
Ants: Artville, LLC
Plate drawing: NWF