Name:.........................................................................................................

Worker ants
looking for food

Ants are insects.

They have a large head, two big eyes

strong jaws and long feelers.
They have six legs.
The body is in two parts; the thorax
where the legs join, and the abdomen.

The ant colony has three different

types of ant; the queen, the males and
the workers.

The most important ant in the nest is

the queen.
She nest
The is very largeby
is built and
thethe only one
worker ants.who can lay eggs.
It is usually underground.
The nest is made up of lots of tunnels that lead into chambers.

tunnel
chamber workers feeding
the larvae

cocoons ready to
eggs
hatch
queen
The queen lays lots of eggs.
Most are workers, some are males, and a few will be new queens.

All worker ants are females.

They do not have wings and cannot lay eggs.
Worker ants look after the nest and find food.
They look after the eggs and feed the larvae.
They care for the cocoons until the new ants are ready to come out.

Male ants have wings.

They usually hide in the nest.
Sometimes they follow a new queen
who flies off to start a new ant colony.

Flying ants

Ants are often attacked and eaten by centipede

spider
spiders, beetles and centipedes.

Ants have strong jaws to bite and

they can sting with acid.

Soldier ants are big worker ants with

very large jaws.

beetle

jaws
 Ants are insects.

 ........................................................................................................................................
Label the parts of the ant.

1. head 2. feeler 3. thorax 4. abdomen 5. leg

3.

2.
4.

1.
5.

How many....?
heads ………… feelers ………. legs …………..
thorax …………. abdomen ………

A have or has?
B
.. A spider __________ eight legs.
C
Centipedes ____________ many legs.
.
An ant ________________ six legs.

People _____________ two legs.

1 2 1 2 3
3 4 4

1 2 3 1 2 3
4 4
Draw the right number of ants

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
 8 ....... eight .......................
9 ....... nine .......................
10 ........ ten .......................
Label these small animals:

1. spider 2. centipede 3. ants 4. beetle

2.
1.

3.
4.

Fill the gaps with the correct word:

feelers jaws insects nest feelers wings eggs

1) Ants are ______________________

2) Ants live in a _______________
3) The queen lays _____________
4) Male ants have ______________
5) Ants taste and smell with _________________
6) Ants bite with strong _______________
7) Ants have six __________________
Word Find:

A N T R M G K L T H
L C R A F E E L E R
J A W S T L E G S J
W O R K E R E E C D
Q U E E N P G E B Q
Y T H I W H E H F I

ANT WORKER FEELER EGGS

JAWS LEGS QUEEN

Ant Jokes:

What is the biggest ant in the world? An elephant

What ant is even bigger than an elephant? A giant
What is smaller than an ant's dinner? An ant's mouth!
What’s smaller than ants’ pants? Bees’ knees
What do you call a very old ant? An antique
What do you call a smartly dressed ant? Elegant!
What medicine would you give a sick ant? Antibiotics!
What do you call an ant that skips school? A truant!