Bring an aquarium filled with sand and leaves to class. Add ants to the aquarium and encourage students to observe the insects. Place cracker crumbs into the aquarium so students can see the ants carrying the crumbs. Give students magnifying glasses so they can observe the ants up close and note how the ants move and follow each other. Give students paper, crayons and markers and invite them to draw a picture of what they see. When the activity is done, set the aquarium outside to free the ants. Let students watch where the ants go.
Help students make ant models. Show students pictures of ants, and note how ant bodies include three round sections, six legs and antennae. Give students three small foam craft balls and black paint. Encourage students to paint the balls, then place them on newspaper to dry. Once the balls are dry, attach the three balls together using toothpicks. Ask students to count out six black pipe cleaners for legs and two more for antennae. Help students attach the pipe cleaners to the foam craft balls for the legs and antennae.
Use different snack foods to make ants. Make the "ants on a log " snack by placing peanut butter onto celery sticks and adding raisins on top. Alternatively, cover a graham cracker in peanut butter and use small candy-coated chocolates as ants. Experiment with chocolate cookies and dried fruits to make ant snacks.
Create ants using finger paints. Give students white paper, markers and black and brown finger paints. Encourage students to use their fingers to make three circles close together to make an ant's body. Invite them to experiment with their different fingers to create different sizes of ants. Allow the paint to dry, then use markers to add legs and antennae to the ants. Use markers to color a landscape for the ants.
Teach students facts about ants. Show students pictures of different kinds of ants, including ants that can bite or sting. Ants can carry 20 times their weight, according to Pestworld for Kids. Bringing in a scale and weigh a student, then multiply that number by 20 to see how much the student could lift if she was an ant.