An ant colony in your classroom will provide students with lots of opportunities to observe insects in action. Building the farm is easy and inexpensive. You can collect ants yourself from a local colony (you may need to wait until spring for ants to appear above ground) or Order an Ant Habitat.


Building the Ant Farm

Materials
1 large, wide-mouthed glass jar with lid or cloth to cover
1 large, empty can which will fit inside the jar (as big as possible)
Small rocks
Plastic wrap and a strong rubber band to cover and seal the can
Large spoon or scoop
Soil (loose and/or sandy is best for ants)
Small sponge
Large piece of cloth to cover entire jar (an old towel works well)
-- or a big piece of aluminum foil

Wash and thoroughly dry your jar and can. Fill your can with rocks to weigh it down; cover and seal with several layers of plastic wrap and a strong rubber band. Place can covered-side-down in the jar. Spoon in soil around the can until the jar is almost full (leave a little room at the top for food and water).

You've created a habitat in which the ants will make some of their tunnels near the glass sides of the jar.

Wet the sponge and place it on top of the soil. Place some food around the sponge.

Ant Food - bread crumbs, jelly, glazed donut, squashed grape, etc.

Punch about 20 very small air holes in the jar's lid and screw it on. If you'd rather not attempt the air holes, replace the lid with a piece of loosely woven cloth and a rubber band.

Carefully place twenty or more ants in jar. Cover entire jar with towel or foil to make it seem as if the entire colony is underground. After a few days, remove cover and observe ants eating and tunneling.

Maintenance
Make sure the sponge is always moist. Add food as needed. When students are not observing ant, keep it covered to stimulate tunnel building.

Collecting Ants Yourself
Your ant colony will do best if you include a queen among the workers. This will require digging into a colony (use a shovel and dig small amounts of soil, slowly and carefully; start at an entrance where you see ants coming and going). The queen is larger than other ants and should not be too hard to find in a small colony.

If you prefer not to rob a colony of its queen, try this experiment: How will ants do in your farm without their queen? Will they make tunnels? Will they collect food?