Soon I will be introducing my prek students to the use of a salt tray as a tool to promote prewriting skills but to introduce the children to writing in salt, we explored ants in the salt tray…
But before I tell you about our ants in the salt tray, let me back track just a bit to share with you the wonderful book (recommended to us by Mrs. T, one of our grandparents) that we read about ants…
“Hey, Little Ant” by Phillip Hoose, Hannah Hoose, and Debbie Tilley is about an ant that spends the entire book giving reasons why the little boy should not step on him. Super cute book that leaves the children with the question of what would they do? Would they step on the ant?
After reading “Hey, Little Ant,” we extended the circle time discussion on ants by singing “There’s an Ant Crawling on the Floor” available here and having ants crawl on us during the song…
Then we looked at a few ants on a log….
And took a very quick peak at the life cycle of an ant as we passed the magnifier jars around the circle…
Each of our magnifier jars had one toy in it which represented one stage of the life cycle of an ant inside…
And we had ants on a log for snack time…
And finally we were off to explore our ants in the salt tray….
The children used their fingers to draw ant tunnels in the salt and the tweezers to put the ants in and out of the tunnels or in most cases, just in and out of the salt…
We set out all the materials we had used in during our morning discussion for the children to explore as well…
A simple pre-prewriting experience for the children to explore and, as always, a good work out for those fine motor skills is always an important aspect of preparing young children for the writing process…
But wait – we also drew our own ants on a log too! But I will show you that process in my next post!
Available on Amazon
Be sure to check out all the Life Cycle Kits!
Links to Grow On
Writing in Salt by Teach Preschool
Ant Art by The Chocolate Muffin Tree
Ants on Anthills by Moments of Mommyhood
11 Comments
You should also check out “Two Bad Ants” by van Allsburg.. It’s awesome.
I will be sure to do that Kelley!
Now I really wish I had picked up that package of tiny ants. Maybe I can do some of the activities with my little spiders, though. I would love to get my buddies using tweezers but I haven’t really enticed them yet. I will just keep trying!
It’s funny how every group has their own interest. My little ones use tweezers for everything:)
I really enjoyed your ideas.
Hi Deborah
Have you tried to build an ant farm? My kids wanted to do it, but I am not sure how to get the ants. Any ideas will be appreciated
We have so many ants outside in our woods that I haven’t had a need to try an ant farm but I know that if you purchase an ant farm kit, you can also purchase the ants either online or in most cases, the kit will come with a way or place to purchase ants to be sent to you.
I like so much!!! It’s very impormative and helpful. Thank you for the GREAT IDEA!
HOLA DEBORAH!!
ACABO DE CONOCER TU BLOG, Y ME HA ENCANTADO!!!
YA ME HE HCHO SEGUIDORA DE TU BLOG.
YO TB SOY MAESTRA, TE INVITO A CONOCER MI BLOG
https://enlaescuelacabentodos.blogspot.com
GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR TANTAS GENIALES IDEAS Y TU TRABAJO DIARIO CON TUS ALUMNOS.
SALUDITOS ESPECIALES!!!
Could you tell me where you purchased the trays that you use? Thanks!
I purchase my trays from two different places Sue. This is where the yellow trays come from: https://www.unitednow.com/product/13345/creativitray-finger-paint-trays.aspx?item=29199 and this is where other trays can be purchased that I like https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7CBX532~~.jsp
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