Get your kids an Ant Mine this Christmas!

A friend recently gave my kids an ant mine kit as a present. Upon getting it my kids got so excited that they wanted me to put it together immediately. So the following night, I set to work. The first task was to make the plaster of paris nest. I followed the instructions the best I could but ended up breaking the thing. It broke my little boy's heart. Yesterday, I bought new plaster of paris so I could continue the work. My second attempt was another failure. I put too much plaster into the water making it too viscous. The third attempt was just right.
After 45 minutes, I took extra-care in taking the nest out of the mold. And set it out to dry overnight.

This morning, my son bugged me to finish the work. Together with my daughter, we attach the plastic face and tube on to the nest. After doing so, we started catching ants. I didn't realize catching ants and putting them into the ant mine was so difficult! They ran so fast! I had to catch 1 or 2 at a time with a spoon and put them into the feeding hole. After getting about 25, my kids finally had the pleasure of looking at their new pets.

This toy makes a perfect gift for kids and kids-at-heart. It makes you appreciate the complexity of the ants' biome and teaches us about the reality of a living planet. Ants also make low maintenance pets compared to fish or dogs!

The kit is part of a series of interconnected biome kits from Treetoys.

photo taken from www.fizzicseducation.com.au