If you’ve been following along, you know that my kids and I completed an ant unit and I am sharing a number of activities we did to learn about ants as part of that unit.
After learning about ant habitats and ant anatomy, we wanted to know: What do ants like to eat?
In reading about ants, we learned that different kinds of ants like different kinds of foods, including seeds, insects, and aphid honeydew. However, the ants in our ant farm simply ate the gel that was part of their habitat, so their eating habits were not all that interesting. Therefore, we decided to set up a science activity to learn what the ants in our backyard like to eat.
Note: For more resources, printables and activities related to ants and other insects, please see my insects unit study page.
We decided to place several different types of food onto a tray. (We used these plastic paint palettes
The foods that we placed on our tray included:
- small crumbs of bread
- shredded cheese
- raisins
- small chunks of walnut
- honey
- an orange, which is not pictured below as it was added right before we headed back inside and I forgot to snap a picture (oops!)
After we placed the tray of food in our backyard, we waited around a little while to see if any ants would come along.
Eventually, we got one lone ant to come check out the food. She wasn’t too interested in the walnuts.
But she did stop for a while to check out the honey.
Even though nothing really exciting happened right away, the kids, especially QBoy, kept staring and staring at the tray. Eventually I had to drag him inside with the promise that we would return in an hour or two to check on the food.
And when we went back out a while later, we were not disappointed with what we saw! The ants were all over the honey and the orange, and to a lesser extent, the raisins. The ants pretty much ignored the walnuts, bread, and cheese.
We used this activity to spark a discussion of why the ants were attracted the the honey, orange, and raisins but not the other foods. (Hint: It has to do with the sugar content of the foods!)
More Ant learning resources
More ant posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Ant Printables Pack
- Ant Do-a-Dot Printables
- Ant 3-Part Cards
- Ant anatomy activity and printable
- Learning about ant habitats
- Books about ants
For more resources, printables and activities related to ants and other insects, please see my Insects Unit Study page and my Insects & Bugs Pinterest board.
Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Unit Ideas: Insects & Bugs on Pinterest.
My youngest has a huge fear of bugs. Any type of bug, creepy crawly, & even just a fly. I found preparing her just once in a while, & letting her know “its insect season” has helped for the last two years. This year, looks like its going to be a bit tougher… I needed some more ideas! After having spent this last weekend thoroughly enjoying (& getting LOTS of use of) your Printable Learning Easter Pack, I think I’m best to follow this Lesson Plan from the start! I know I say thank you all the time & it might sound repetative but, i truly mean it! I will email you some photos!
Thanks Jeanine, I would love to see some photos if you’d like to send them my way!
Awesome hands-on learning! Thank you for linking up to the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Bloghop!
What a great idea! We enjoy watching ants. We may give this a try!
Love this experiment – I wonder if it will be a little gross for my daughter 🙂 Thanks for sharing with After School Link Up!
What a great lesson!! I love it! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
What a cool hands-on science experiment! I love it. Thanks for sharing this at the After School Linky!
Looks like a fun experiment to perform outside! Featured you on Mom’s Library this week!
Great idea! I hadn’t thought about seeing what the ants prefer (probably because here we’re trying to get rid of them as fast as we can).
We replicate this experiment regularly just by eating our meals outside when the weather is nice. Kids aren’t clean eaters! Leave the food on the ground and you’ve either got some serious cleaning up to do later or a new collection of pets.
Too true!
Thanks for the nice information