Nature Study #93: Observations of Ants in an Artificial Nest

"Turn up any chance stone, and you may come upon a colony of ants. We have always known that it becomes us to consider their ways and be wise..." -Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol. I, p.56.

"Children should be encouraged to watch, and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of the...ant..." -Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol. 1. p 57

I had bought an ant farm (and sent away for the ants) back when we were doing the "In the Garden" unit. Apparently they do not send ants through the mail when the temperatures are too low (or too high). Well, they arrived in the mail minutes before I was headed out the door, so Steven said he would take care of transferring the ants, which arrived in a tiny tube, to the ant farm. Apparently the transfer was quite an interesting adventure, with ants coming back up out of the ant farm before the others were all in and other such interesting events. By the time I got back home, however, the all seemed to be safe and sound and in the farm. They boys rushed to tell me how the ants had been "all over the place!" When I checked them out, the ants all seemed to be crawling aimlessly around the top half of the ant farm and not digging tunnels in the sand in the bottom half. I put black pieces of construction paper over the bottom half to encourage them do dig deeper. This morning it appears that it worked because there was much more activity.

"The ants will be restless for perhaps forty-eight hours, but will begin to settle and arrange the earth."-Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol. 1. p 57