Are your kids whining for a pet, but you are not ready for a high maintenance dog or cat? Consider purchasing an ant farm for your children. Not only will it satisfy their desire for a pet, ant farms are action-packed education tools that are so fun, you kids won’t even realize that they're learning.
The Fascinating World of Ants
Children are well-known for losing interest in a pet after the novelty has worn off. Fish just swim back and forth, reptiles lay on hot rocks, and larger pets are a whole lot of work. But ant farms have the unique ability to hold the entire family’s interest for the duration, because there is always something happening down on the farm. As soon as ants are introduced into their new plastic habitat, they get to work constructing the tunnels and chambers that will be their new home.
Three Main Types of Ant Farms
- Traditional Ant Farms: The type of ant farm that most of us are familiar with is filled with sand, sandwich between two transparent sheets. This is usually the most inexpensive type of ant farm. The disadvantage is that the sand can block your view of some of the ants tunnels and activities.
- Larger, Elaborate,Three Dimensional Ant Farms: These are the bigger ant farms, that have both height and depth. Although you can keep larger ant colonies in such a farm, the problem of visibility is even worse that in traditional designs. Because these farms are so wide, there may be many tunnels and chambers that cannot be seen from the outside.
- Gel Ant Farms: This newest type of ant farm has many advantages. Gel ant farms are filled with a nutrient rich glop that provides the ants with building material, food and water. Gels are the ultimate, no-hassle ant farm. The medium these farms are filled with is transparent, either colorless or tinted, and allows viewers to see all of the ants at once, wherever they are in the enclosure. Gel colonies are a little more expensive than other designs, but well worth it for the convenience and spectacular view.
Do Ant Farms Come With Ants?
When you purchase an ant farm, it comes with all of the supplies required to set up the farm, but, instead of the ants, a voucher is included. Once you have the ant farm set up and ready for the tiny tenants to move in, you send in the voucher, and the ants will be shipped to you. Since many ant farms are sold off-the-shelf in stores, it is not possible for the ants to be included with farm, since the product may sit on the shelf for moths before being purchased. Once the ants are shipped to you, you just add them to the farm and watch them work.
To learn more about ants and ant farm products, see:
- Ant Farm Central: An online store with a great deal of information to help you learn about ants and select the right product for our interests.
- “Discover This” Educational Toys: A website with ant farms and many other great educational science kits and toys.
- All Free Crafts has instruction on how to build a home-made ant farm.
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