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Ambitious Ants
(God's Animals)
by Sandra Harris

"Be wise like the ants," the Bible tells us. But just how are the ants wise? The activities in this lesson plan will guide children in discovering the wisdom of the ants.

Characteristic: Be wise – plan ahead.

Bible Verse: Watch what the ants do and be wise. Proverbs 6:6, paraphrased

Concepts:

Ants are members of the insect family. There are 2,500 – 10,000 species of ants (depending on what encyclopedia you look in). All have a wasp-like waist and two bent antennae; some have wings. Most ants are black, brown, red or yellow, but a few are blue or green. Some ants can sting, and some can spray poison. They have powerful jaws designed for biting.

All species of ants show some degree of social organization. Most live in colonies or groups consisting of three social classes: queen ants, workers and males. Workers are wingless females; these are the ants we usually see. Besides gathering food, workers are responsible for building and maintaining the colony/nest, guarding it, and raising the young ants.

The ants we observe always busy storing food and preparing for the future. They are thought to be wise because they do this. The Bible tells us to watch how the ant works and to be like the ant. It is smart thinking to do things when we can. It is foolish to be lazy or to put off doing things because we don’t feel like doing it.

Center Activities

Home Living/Dramatic Play: While children are “playing house,” guide the conversation toward a discussion as to why parents are always planning and preparing for things ahead of time. Try acting out what would happen if no one had prepared ahead to do something. For example, it’s dinner time but no one bought food or washed dishes. Or, it’s time to go to Susie’s birthday party, but no one bought or made a present. What happens next?

Manipulatives: Use Legos or another building material to try building something in reverse or out of the normal sequence of events. For example, try building a house from the roof down using Lincoln Logs. Why doesn’t it work? Why do builders plan ahead before they start building?

Craft: Giant Paper Ant

From construction paper or craft foam, cut out a large circle, a large pear shape and a large teardrop shape. Glue together to make an ant: head = teardrop, middle body = circle or oval, back end = pear shape. Cut out a small circle of a contrasting color for the eye. Glue this to the head. Glue six paper strips or chenille wires to the body for legs (cut to appropriate length). Glue two paper strips or chenille wires to the head for antennae. Use black, brown or red paper for realistic ants, or allow kids to express themselves using colors of their choice.

Storytime: Aesop’s fable of The Grasshopper and the Ants

Find the story in your favorite Aesop’s Fables book, or use my version (click here).

Enrichment Ideas

1. Tell the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Matthew 25:1-12. Which girls were wise like the ants? Why?

2. Read “Dump Truck Ants” in If Animals Could Talk and “Ambitious Ants” in Counting Stars, both by William L. Coleman (Bethany House, 1987 and 1981).

3. Check your local library or video rental store for a video of The Grasshopper and the Ants fable.

4. Choose a simple cooking project to try this experiment with. Divide the class into two groups. Send one group to a table that has all of the equipment and ingredients ready and waiting. Send the other group to a table that has a list of things the kids must gather to make the same recipe. Discuss: Which group finished first? Why?

5. Observe an ant farm.

6. In warm weather, have a picnic lunch outdoors. Watch to see if the ants come to claim your food scraps.

7. Bulletin Board: Display children’s Giant Ants with a caption such as “Ambitious Ants” or “Wise as the Ants.” Add bits of torn and crumpled paper to represent bits of food, or have children cut out magazine pictures of food to add to the display.

8. Songs:
“The Ants Go Marching”
“This is the Way We Wash Our Clothes”
“Bringing in the Sheaves”

9. Books: Search your local library to see what they have. A few older ones are:
Ants are Fun, Mildred Myrick
Hidden Messages, Dorothy Van Woerkom
Small World of Ants, David Cook

Amazon.com carries a large selection of children’s books about ants. Here are a few of the most popular ones (age recommendations by publishers):
Ants (Animals of the Rain Forest), Christy Steele, ages 9-12
The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in Its Pants, Joanna Cole, ages 4-8
Those Amazing Ants, Patricia Brennan Demuth, ages 4-8
The Fascinating World of Ants, Angels Julivert, ages 9-12
Exploring Ants: Amazing Facts About How Animals Adapt, Joanne Settel, Ages 9-12
Crickwing, Janell Cannon, ages 4-8
Inside an Ant Colony, Allan Fowler, ages 4-8
It’s an Ant’s Life, Steve Parker, ages 4-8
One Hundred Hungry Ants, Elinor J. Pinczes, ages 4-8
The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb: A Mexican Fable, Shirley Climo, ages 4-8
Hey, Little Ant, Philip M. Moore, ages 4-8
Two Bad Ants, Chris Van Allsburg, ages 4-8
The Ant Bully, John Nickle, ages 4-8

Are You an Ant?

Ant Farm Village

The Magic School Bus Explores the World...

The Magic School Bus : Gets Ants in Its...

The items listed above are made available through Amazon.com.