Fun Facts About Ants for Kids
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Ants can be pesky, but we can learn a lot from them. It’s fun to learn nature activities and bug facts. So check out these fun facts about ants for kids!
Ant facts for kids
There are a few ant facts that help you understand a little about ants. You can buy an ant farm or even make one with stuff you have around the house and either catch or buy ants to go in it. There are lots of ways to learn about the habits of ants.
- There are more than 12,000 kinds of ants.
- Some queen ants live for years.
- One queen can have millions of babies in her lifetime.
- The queen has wings.
- When she dies, the colony dies.
- An ant can lift 20 times it’s own body weight.
- Ants work together in groups to carry heavier objects.
- Ants fight to the death.
- Ants hear with their feet through vibrations. They don’t have ears.
- Ants leave a scent trail behind them for other ants. It’s called pheromones.
- Ants breathe through their body. They have tiny holes that take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide just like our lungs do.
- There are flying ants!
- A bullet ant has the most painful sting in the world (like being shot with a bullet)
- Ants are the longest living insects, some kinds live up to 30 years.
- There are no ants are Antartica.
- The other female eggs work to feed the colony and the queen.
- The male ants only mate with the queen.
- Ant colonies can have 2 dozen ants or millions.
- The smallest ants are .03 inch and the largest are 2 inches long.
- Ants eat plants or animals.
How to make your own ant farm
To learn a lot of interesting facts about ants on your own, you can make an ant farm out of recycled materials. Here is one that’s made of mason jars.
To make it you’ll need a large mason jar with a wide mouth lid, a small mason jar that fits inside the large one, a piece of fabric, 1 cup of dirt and one cup of sand, and some ants.
- Make sure both jars are clean and dry.
- Poke some holes in the lid of the large jar. You can use a hammer and nail or a drill.
- With the lid on the small jar, place it inside the large jar. Using two jars helps you see the ant tunnels they build.
- Mix the dirt and sand together.
- Fill the space between the large and small jar. Leave it loose, don’t pack it in. Leave 1 inch of space at the top of the large jar. If you need to, add more soil to get it one inch from the top.
- Add ants. You can buy them, or find an ant hill and locate the queen. Add her to your jar and a few of the worker ants. About 20 is all you need.
- Put the lid with holes on the large jar, cover it with the scrap of fabric, and screw the ring on over the fabric.
- Once a week feed them a few drops of sugar water or honey on the top of the dirt. Jam will work too.
Cover the jar when you aren’t watching them. This will help them tunnel to the outside edge of the dirt so you can see it.
Don’t store the jar in the sun, it will make it too hot.
Don’t shake the jar.
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