|
Small
creatures like ants and spiders fascinate children. Help them learn
more about ants by building an Ant Farm together. The children will
be able to observe the ants' busy life and their tunneling skills.
1
½ lt. soft drink bottle (in plastic)
Drinking Glass
Craft Knife
Garden Soil
Ants
Muslin cloth
Rubber band
| 1. |
Cut
the soft drink bottle in half. Discard the top section |
| 2. |
Find
a drinking glass that will fit inside, leaving a space of about
4 cm wide between the glass and the plastic bottle. |
| 3. |
Carefully
spoon in the garden soil to fill this space. |
| 4. |
Add
some ants from the garden. |
| 5. |
Cover
the top with a muslin cloth, secured by a rubber band, so that
the ants cant escape. |
| 6. |
Add
a small amount of cake or sugar every few days. |
Return
the ants to their natural habitat after a few days. This will teach
the children to have respect for animal life.
Time taken - initial preparation would take 10 mts, subsequently
the children can check the terrarium once in a while
A
clear container with a lid (big glass jar or clear plastic container
will do)
Adhesive Tape
Water
4 -5 pieces of leftover food, such as bread, fruit, vegetables,
cheese, and cookies or cake
| 1. |
The
children can cut bigger foods like bread or cheese into 1"
chunks. |
| 2. |
Each
piece of food needs to be dipped into some water. |
| 3. |
Put
these into the container. If using big jar lay it on its side.
Spread the pieces out so that they are close to each other,
but not all in a heap. |
| 4. |
Put
the lid on the container. |
| 5. |
Tape
around the edge of the lid to seal it. |
| 6. |
The
children can observe the mold terrarium everyday. For the first
2 or 3 days they probably won't see much. But soon a blue or
green or white fuzzy stuff would be seen growing on some of
the pieces of food. They can watch how the mold spreads and
how things rot for about 2 weeks. |
Safety
tip - Do
not use anything with meat or fish in it - after a few days,
these would start to smell bad.
When the children are through with your Mold Terrarium, throw
it in the garbage. Don't reuse the container. Don't even open
the lid. |
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