Build Your Own Ant Farm

Do you have a child who loves to play in the dirt and get messy? One that enjoys ants,lightning bugs and grasshoppers etc...Well this is a great project for just those kinds of kids.

This is an easy project for kids of any age. Watch as the ants build an underground city. This ant farm has no openings, so you don’t have to worry about the ants escaping into your home. You can open the jar outside to feed the ants, and then close it back up and bring it inside to observe.

Materials needed:
2 Jars – One Big, One Smaller
Loose, Sand-Like Soil
Water
Sugar

Directions: Place smaller jar inside of the bigger one like photo on the left. Make sure there is no lid on the smaller jar. Now fill the outside area between both jars, with the sandy-soil. Make sure that the entire area is filled, but don’t pack it tightly or the ants will not be able to dig their way through it.

Now you must find the ants for your ant farm jar. Go looking in your back yard or in the local park. If you still can not find any ants then you can build an ant trap. Ants love sugar, so what you should do is put some sugar, mixed with a tiny bit of water, into a jar or can. Put it on its side and keep an eye on it…when you have about 20 ants. Don’t get more than 20 ants…crowding too many ants in the jar will make them less active and less fun to watch. You can close the jar and put them in your ant farm jar

(DO THIS OUTSIDE – NOT INSIDE YOUR HOUSE)
Important : Make sure that these ants are from the same colony or they will land up fighting and killing each other.

Do the feeding of your ants outside to keep them from escaping into your house (or I will get in allot of trouble.

Once a week (no more than this) feed the ants a few drops of sugar water. You can put it directly into the soil. You can also drop in there a few grains of bird or grass seed.

FEEDING ANTS TOO MUCH CAN KILL THEM!

Keep Your Ants Safe

Keep your ant jar away from direct blow of air conditioners, radiators, and heaters…keep them at normal room temperature.
Keep them out of the direct glare of sunlight.

Now just watch and observe your ants build their own littler underground city. They can build them most amazing, intricate mazes. I hope you enjoyed this project.
Make sure to close that jar tight. Don’t worry about the ants getting enough air because you will be opening it to put food in there. Believe it or not, that is plenty of air for your ants.

Credit:http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/kidscraftsactivitiesblog/

Books related to project:

"We purchased an ant farm for our 5 year old DD for Christmas. And I bought this book to go along with it. It is such an informative book! And easy enough for a 5 year old to understand. We really enjoyed reading it and learning about our ants!

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"A #1 BUGMAN favorite, Two Bad Ants allows children (and everyone else) to experience the world through an ant's point of view. Van Allsburg's phenomenal illustrations take us through a grass jungle, up a brick mountain, and into a strange world where "even the sky is gone"! We are carried through this thrilling adventure with two ants who get a little greedy and find all sorts of trouble. The result is a spellbinding ant's-eye trip through a normal kitchen that teaches the bad ants a memorable lesson. Two Bad Ants is better than a 10 - one of the best ever"

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