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Picnic Chip Clips

© Peggy Hoehne

Summer brings picnics and picnics bring ants. Like other insects, ants have six legs. On their heads they have antennae, which they use not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell. When an ant finds food, it leaves a scent trail so other ants can locate it, too.

Ants can also communicate with each other. If you watch them for awhile, you will see them communicate by touching each other with their antennae.

Ants are social insects who live in colonies or large groups. Some colonies have millions of ants. Each colony has three types of ants: the queen who lays the eggs, sterile females who do the work, and males. The workers look for food, look after the young, and defend the nest.

There is an old story about the industrious ant and the lazy grasshopper. Ants do a great deal of work keeping their colony neat and tidy. There are even ants whose job is to take out the garbage.

Ants are very strong and can lift 20 times their own body weight. They often carry quite large pieces of food back to their colonies. If the ants discover your picnic, they will tell all their friends and they will begin to take pieces of your chips and other foods back to the colony. You need to keep the chips and other bags of food closed up and safe from the ants.

We are going to make a clip you can use to keep bags of chips closed at home or on a picnic.

Picnic Chip Clip

Supplies:

• Snap Clothespins
• Black paint or marker
• Craft Foam
• 1 long twisty tie
• Craft wiggle eyes (or make your own eyes)
• Tacky Glue
Directions:

1. Paint (or use a marker) the inside and sides of the clothespin black.
2. Create a template consisting of three ovals, the first large and slightly oblong, the second thinner, and the last larger and rounder, ending in a slight point. This is the ants head, body, and tail. See picture.
3. Trace the ant pattern twice onto black craft foam.
4. Cut two of the ant bodies.
5. Glue the bodies to each side of the snap clothespin, being sure the larger 'head' end is toward the snap part of the clothespin.
6. Glue eyes toward the outside of the head toward the back.
7. Glue the twisty tie behind the eyes at the back of the head. Bend the two ends to resemble antennae.

ant

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