Activity: What's Buggin' You?
Activity for Fire Ant Physiques in the Youth Module.
- Overview
- Students will use a pattern to build a three-dimensional (3-D) model of a fire ant. They will learn the different parts of an ant and new vocabulary words.
- Objective
- Students will learn the body regions of the ant and compare them to other insects.
- Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) (other states may have similar systems)
- Science
- 3rd grade: 3.3.c, 3.9.a
- 4th grade: 4.1.a, 4.3.c, 4.6.c, 4.8.a, 4.8.b
- 5th grade: 5.1.a, 5.3.c, 5.9.a, 5.9.b, 5.9.c
- Materials
- Ant Model Assembly Instructions, one for each student
- Red Imported Fire Ant Model, one assembled, one set photocopied onto heavy card stock for each student
- Glue
- Scissors
- Colored pencils, markers or crayons
- Optional: Parts of an Ant Worksheet, one for each student
- Activity
- Before class, photocopy the Red Imported Fire Ant Model pieces onto heavy card stock. Also before class, assemble your Red Imported Fire Ant Model and have it on display so the students can refer to it.
- Distribute one set of pieces to each student.
- Have each student cut out the parts.
- The students should then assemble the parts according to the instructions.
- Ask the students to glue the labels onto their worksheets and compare the ant model with other types of insects, noting the similarities and differences.
- The students can color their ants with natural or customized color patterns.
- Alternative activities
- The students may work individually or in teams to assemble several Red Imported Fire Ant Model kits (ordering information is in the Appendix). Besides the kits, you may also need sandpaper or a file to sand the edges of the parts. Or, the students may simply color the Parts of an Ant Worksheet, and label the body parts.
- Wrap-up
- After comparing ants to butterflies, grasshoppers or other common insects, the students should be able to discuss the similarities and differences of the types of insects.
Note: You may want to refer to the KIDzANTS Teacher Manual, which is from the original release of KIDzANTS made by Texas AgriLife Extension.
PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK
The fire ant eXtension youth team would love some feedback from your experience. Please contact Paul Nester (p-nester@tamu.edu) with questions, comments, testimonials, and particularly images of your students' accomplishments and the students engaging in this activity. If you send images that include students, please be sure that parental approval has been given to use the image. Most schools routinely have parents sign a photographic release form. If you are unsure whether a permission form has been completed, you can use this form and send it along with the image: Photography Release Form
