Nature Study Close to Home – Ants

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Spring Series #10

Ants!

We headed outside to find the ants as the cloud cover broke, after a three day rain.

So far we have only seen tiny black ants. Never more than 5 or 6.  Sometimes in the garden, or near the house, or by my coffee syrup drippings.

Today we found 2 on a flower and 5-6 on the deck.

Tip #1 – Boy Spit is fatal to Ants. 
Tip #2 – Boy Fingers Aren’t that Safe Either.

The ants seemed to go to the siding of the house and disappear in a crack.  Upon investigation of Tiny Black Ants – we learned that they like houses/siding/wood for their homes too.

 Tiny Black Ant on a Flower Tiny Black Ant Shiney on a flower Tiny Black Ant on the Deck Tiny Black Ant with Crackers

The boys put out crackers, salt, sugar, and boy spit.  They liked the Crackers most.
(Note that that long bone surf board looking thing is a pine needle.)

Nature Study Ants Sketch Nature Study Ants Sketch Tiny Black
Nature Study Ants Sketch

Proverbs 6:6 (The Message)

A Lesson from the Ant

6-11 You lazy fool, look at an ant.
   Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.
Nobody has to tell it what to do.
   All summer it stores up food;
   at harvest it stockpiles provisions.
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing?
   How long before you get out of bed?
A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
   sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,
   poverty your permanent houseguest!

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About +Angie Wright

The Transparent Thoughts of an Unschooling Family of Boys - Answering the question - What DO you DO all day?
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8 Responses to Nature Study Close to Home – Ants

  1. Rodna James's avatar Rodna James says:

    I’m gonna have to check this series out. It looks fun!
    I am on the TOS Crew this year, and it is nice to meet you.

  2. Love the tips from the boys – especially fatal boy spit! How neat – we also used our ‘Go to the Ant’ chart as part of our ant study. Great photos!

  3. Very neat study! My daughter loves anything to do with insects – and we have lots of ants right now to study! 🙂

    Welcome to the Crew!

    Lisa C. from the Crew
    http://www.teachthemhisways.blogspot.com

  4. Love the idea of putting out crumbs and sugar. I will have to try that one too.

    One place we always find ants…on our rose bush.

    Thanks for sharing your link and the great photos.

    Barb

  5. Blossom's avatar Blossom says:

    Nice post 🙂 We have tons of little black ants in our back yard. Our yard consists of dirt and rocks…they seem to love it 🙂 Dd tried to make her own ant farm but didn’t find the queen. We do have some red ants but not many. I’m so glad that this is the OH topic…when it stops raining here hopefully we can investigate some more!
    Btw, love your tips!

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