How do ants find the sugar?
A plain-English answer for grown-ups of kids aged 6–9, taken from the Yufena lesson that explores this question.
This is a members' lesson. Four other lessons are free to try.
The answer, for parents
Short answer: A scout ant leaves a smell trail called a pheromone, and the other ants follow it to the food.
Ants live together in a colony. One scout ant wanders off alone to look for food. Nobody tells it where to go. It zig-zags until it finds the sugar. The scout takes a bit of sugar home. On the way, it leaves a trail of smell called a pheromone. Other ants smell the trail with their feelers.
The other ants follow the trail to the sugar. Each ant adds more scent on the way home. So the trail gets stronger, and even more ants come. When the sugar is all gone, ants stop adding scent. The smell slowly fades away. So the trail disappears, and the ants look for new food.
In the lesson, your child puts this cause-and-effect chain in order: A scout finds the food → It lays a scent trail going home → Other ants follow the scent → More ants add more scent → The food runs out and the scent fades.
What if the scent is wiped away? The ants get confused and wander about. Then they find the scent again, or make a new trail.
How do so many ants work together? Each ant follows simple rules, like following the smell. Together, they act like a clever team called a colony.
Try it with your child
Let's watch an ant trail. Look for a line of ants outside. Stay a little way back and watch. Which way are they going? Do they stay in a line? Ask a grown-up to wipe across the trail with a damp cloth. What do the ants do? They get confused! Then they find the scent again, or make a new trail.
Safety: Safety first: watch, but do not touch. Some ants bite. Wash your hands after.
Explore it together in the full lesson
Guess, find clues, build the chain and try the experiment. Read it together.