Ants may be small, but ant art activities make for big fun.
During certain times of the year, ants seem to be everywhere. Incorporate these hard-working little insects into your next art project for kids. Whether your lesson revolves around insects themselves, the letter A, or even picnic foods, incorporate ant art activities into your lesson plans.
Fingerprint Ants
Use a child's fingerprint to depict an ant. Help kids draw pictures of ant hills on white paper, or cut out strips of brown construction paper to build ant hill collages on large blue construction paper backgrounds. Alternately, have the children prepare a picnic blanket with red-and-white checkered napkins glued to a paper plate with photos of favorite foods. Then help the children add a few black fingerprints onto the page to make it look like ants have invaded the artwork. Draw on legs and antennae with a black marker.
Human Ants
Help kids become ants with an easy headband art project. Instruct the children to decorate a strip of construction paper that is long enough to wrap around their heads, then glue two brown chenille stems on the front inside the loop of paper to become ant antennae. Then the children can parade around all day like marching ants going in and out of tunnels to collect food for the anthill citizens.
Egg Carton Ants
Help kids cut out three sections of an egg carton to represent the three segments of an ant's body. Have them paint the egg carton segments brown, black or red, and stick small chenille stems into the sides to make legs. Add more chenille stems to the head for antennae and glue on googly eyes to complete the little buggy pals.
Accordion Ants
Kids learn about the different parts of an ant's body with this cut-and-paste craft idea. Help the children cut shapes for an ant's three main body segments out of construction paper and glue them together in the proper order. Then have them accordion-fold six small strips of and glue them onto the body to make legs. Add googly eyes to the head to finish off the ant.
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