Easy-Peasy DIY Ant Crafts

I almost went with the standard, and admittedly cute, egg carton ant with pipecleaner legs and antennae craft for our crawling insect theme story time, but I decide to take inspiration from my awesome ant farm and have the children create simple paper ant mazes, and while we were at it, stamp some ants on their pants!

Anthill Maze

Supplies: paper (copy paper works best, but construction paper is fine), two markers of the same size, tape, a paper clip, a magnet, a craft stick (or a fridge magnet in lieu of a small magnet and craft stick) glue, and a picture of an ant (clip art or hand-drawn)

1. Tape the markers together



2. Pressing down with both markers, draw a "maze" on the paper- squiggles, straight lines, loop-de-loops...it's up to you!



3. Glue the small magnet to one end of a craft stick- or just use a fridge magnet. Tape a paper clip to the back of your ant picture. Thread the tape through one loop of the paperclip so the other loop of metal is left uncovered.



4. Have a buddy hold the paper at the edges with both hands. Lay the ant picture at the "start" of your maze and hold the magnet under the paper directly underneath the ant- then slowly move the magnet and slide your ant through the maze!



Change the picture and you have a whole new adventure- a mouse looking for cheese, a race car on a track, a groundhog or prairie dog tunneling....the possibilities are endless!

Ants in My Pants
Supplies: paper, scissors, cotton swabs, tape, and an ink pad

1. Cut your paper to resemble a pair of pants. Tape three cotton swabs together so the tips line up- and create the three body parts of an ant (head, thorax, abdomen) . To get the most use out of this you can then cut the sticks in half so you have two "ants" from each grouping.



2. Dab the cotton swab bundle onto the ink pad, then stamp onto the paper pants. You may need to practice a bit to get a solid ant form- sometimes kind of tilting the swabs from side to side while on the paper helps to round out the shape. Keep stamping until you think you have enough ants in your pants!

I Heart Ants

I can't help it- I am totally obsessed with these insects! I even stopped myself from doing the ant stomp when I found an anthill in my yard this weekend.

The ant farm is going swimmingly- the ants haven't stopped tunneling and now they cruise through their labyrinth with ease. I am sad to say that we have lost a few along the way. (moment of silence please) The deceased have all been carried out of the tunnels and laid on the surface. When I am 100% sure they are dead and not just in a reeeaaaalllly deep sleep, I will respectfully remove them and lay them to rest outside. Welcome to the food chain...lunch is served birdies!

The whole purpose of buying and...what is the right word?...raising?...hosting?...creating?, this ant farm...hmm. Well,the whole reason I got this ant farm was to have a real-life example to show young children during Cantigny's Sprouts program- a nature based story time we offer each month.

This month's theme was Gone Buggy! The first week we talked about bug bodies and what separates bugs from insects (true insects must have two antennae, six legs, three body parts, and an exoskeleton- wings are optional), the second week we explored insects that fly and this past week we discussed insects that crawl and hop- including the wonderful, amazing, ever-popular ANT.

The children (ages 3-5) were captivated by the ant farm and loved watching the ants crawl through the tunnels! They were quite curious and inquisitive. The most popular question was, "Can they get out?"

Observing the ants provided a great opportunity for music and movement- we hopped like grasshoppers, flapped our wings like butterflies and crawled on all fours- much like our six legged friends. Then, after marching with maracas to the classic "Ants Go Marching" tune, we worked on two simple ant crafts that you can try at home! I will explain them- with pics- in the next post.

I'll leave you with something else to try at home- my favorite insect song! It's to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen
Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen

Two antennae, six legs and sometimes wings,

Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen

There are optional movements-
-Point to head, chest and tummy- repeat
-Make antennae by holding up one pointer finger on each side of your head (sort of like bull horns)
-Hold up three fingers on each side of your body and put your hands at hip level to show your "six legs"
-Do the standard thumb in the armpit chicken wing OR arms out to the side airplane style
-Point to head, chest and tummy- repeat

Sing and move faster and faster and faster until you are all giggling and out of breath and dancing like- well, what else? Like you've got ants in your pants!

I've Got Ants in My Pants!

Okay, so not really in my pants, that seems quite uncomfortable, but they are in my office. No worries- not a pest control issue- they are happily enclosed in an ant farm. And let me just tell you- they are the COOLEST little insects!

I ordered my six-legged friends a few weeks ago- a vial of hearty Harvester Ants- flown in from the wilds of St. Charles, Missouri- shipped with a cold pack and best wishes. To my utter dismay (and later, my morbid curiosity- paired with a magnifying glass) ALL the ants arrived DOA! Good old Illinois summer heat got to my ants before they got to me.

So, I filled out the replacement ant order form (I guess DOA ants are apparently a pretty common occurrence in the insect livestock industry- poor things) and a few days later, a second vial was delivered -to my home address this time, to be sure I got them unpacked ASAP. This time half lived! Woo hoo!

So, I poured my 18 living pets- and the bits and pieces of their deceased friends (ugh) into my shiny new Antworks ant farm. And watched. And waited. And watched. And waited. And then real life took over and I gave my son a bath and put him to bed. When I checked back in on my roommates, the industrious lil' critters had been quite busy. The first task was to move all the dead ants to one side- just pile em up. An ant can move up to 50 times their own weight, so they just tossed the unlucky ones on their backs and stacked them up.

Once the cemetery was established they got right to work digging tunnels. Have you ever seen an ant dig a tunnel?? SOOOO COOL. First off- I should clarify, these ants are not in your run of the mill sandy ant farm- oh no- these ants are tunneling through special blue gel created by NASA for in orbit ant habitat studies.

The gel contains nutrients, so as the ants tunnel, they are ingesting the "juice" from the gel. Ant fact: Ants do not "eat" food, or at least they don't really chew and swallow food. They squeeze their food and ingest just the liquid. Ant fact 2: Their jaws go sideways like scissors, not up and down like ours. I'm on a roll....Ant fact 3: Ants have two tummies- one for themselves and one to bring food to other ants. (How that food exchange works, I'm not sure, and I'd rather not ponder it too deeply.)

So back to the farm....the ants use their crazy scissor-style mandibles to tunnel and as they break off pieces of the gel to create the tunnel, they carry them up and out of the tunnel, and start to create piles. That is why you always see anthills made of little bits of dirt along sidewalks and driveways- that all came out of the tunnels.

By the time I woke up the next morning and checked on my worker bees...er....ants, they had created quite the little homestead for themselves. Oh did I mention, all the ants are FEMALE? (Ant fact 4) All the ants in this farm, and actually almost all the ants you find outside, are female! Male ants are created as needed for reproduction, and die shortly there after. Not sure how all the social dynamics and hierarchies work in the world of ants, but this all girl band of ants sure can tunnel...check it out...

A Perfect Summer Day

I was greeted this morning by a very large dragonfly tapping on my office window. It hovered there just long enough for me to get a close look at it's blue face and watch it's helicopter wings vibrate.

Ahhh...to be a dragonfly! What a perfect summer day to flit and float and fly around!

After so many days of that weather that shall not be named, it is a treat to see BLUE sky!

Come to Cantigny this afternoon and enjoy it with me! Today at 1:00 we are hosting the first Wild Wednesday of the summer. Stop the presses, we are making paper!

We will use shredded newspaper and bits of plant material to craft circles of handmade paper. This is a hands-on experience geared towards children ages 3-10. And yahoo!- it's free to all park visitors- once you've paid the $5 parking fee, that is.

We'll be outside the new Outdoor Education Center...see you there! Just follow the dragonflies!

In case you don't trust insects to give you accurate directions...Cantigny is located at 1 S 151 Winfield Road, in Wheaton, Illinois.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?
Are you ready?
OK!
OK!

Did I forget to mention this was a repeat after me song?

I still have the tune of "Goin' on a Bug Hunt" in my head from our preschool storytime last week, and the chorus ends with asking if the children are ready. But the question is, are YOU ready? Ready for a playdate with nature?

This blog is your personal invitation from nature to COME OUT AND PLAY!

As an educator at Cantigny I get to go out and play just about every day. I can take a hike through the wooded nooks of the park, stroll in the prairie, or literally stop and smell the roses in our beautiful Rose Garden.

There are logs to balance across, ponds to search for fish, turtles and frogs, gardens to explore and plenty of big green lawns to run across or just lay down on.

When was the last time you- and your children- just laid down in the grass and watched the clouds roll past you? Or simply closed your eyes and listened?

Can't remember? Well, how about starting this weekend. Go outside and play. At Cantigny, at the park, or just in your own backyard.

Get back to the basics. Watch the clouds, follow an ant, smell a flower. Play tag, play catch...just play.

This blog will be your spot to get some inspiration and motivation to accept each day's invitation to a playdate with nature. No RSVPs required.

Are you ready?