Ants, Ants Everywhere!

Over the past few weeks, the Ladybugs have been captivated by the ants that are scurrying around! 

 
It all started when one child pointed to a box labeled, “Ant Works, a space-age habitat for ants” that was stored in one of our cupboards. He asked if we could bring it outside and search for ants and so we did!  

Once we went outside, everyone wanted to join in! The Ladybugs worked together as they searched for the ants, safely captured them and monitored their health.
 
One child noticed that one of the ants in our enclosure had a broken leg...

He exclaimed, “We need to rescue it!”. Any injured ants were immediately released back into the wild.

Another day, we brought out our new bug kits, so that each child had the opportunity to work independently if they wanted to. Some of the children decided to create a bug-friendly habitat inside their bug kits. 
 
“I’m going to get more grass”

 
One child exclaimed, “Look! There’s a magnify glass!” when she realized that a magnifying glass was connected to each bug kit. She then used that magnifying glass to closely study the ant that she found!
 
“I see an ant! It’s so brownish!”
 
Another child used a small net and scooped up a big pile of grass.
He said, “I’m going to sort through this to find an ant”.

To learn more, we looked at some insect books and made some notes and drawings! 
 
“I know how worms hide!” 
“Ants go underground”
 “I know what that is! A butterfly!”
“How do you spell 'ant village'?”
“I have room to write what I see”
‘I’m going to find these!” 

 
Afterwards, we decided to walk to a neighborhood park and look for insects along the way! Before we left, one of our entomologists exclaimed... 

“I’ve got my suitcase! It comes in handy. I have extra paper if people run out”. 

He sure was right! Someone lost their pencil a few minutes into our walk and needed a replacement ASAP! 

​On our journey, we ended up finding one red ant, one black ant, one beetle and an ant hill! We also saw some flowers and one child shouted,
​"The bees will fly from flower to flower!".

 
Once the grasshoppers, caterpillars and ladybugs start populating the school yard, I know that these Kinders are going to be in a buggy paradise!  
 
- Vita