So we designed and built a really wonderful maze. And we went on an ant catching adventure around our house. But the ants hated it and only wanted out or to stay along the top. They were not the least bit interested in the honey reward at the end of the maze. Since we knew from experience that ants *did* like honey, this prompted another question about why ants didn't like the honey in our maze. So Regan thought maybe they didn't like the smell of our adhesive we used to make the maze and designed another experiment (in two plain bowls this time - not in the maze) to see if the ants would find the honey faster if there was just honey in the bowl or if they would go around the stinky glue.
Although we weren't ever able to determine if the ants would find our honey faster in a group, we did learn definitely that the ants do not like the glue we used. So maybe Regan just discovered the foundations of a new ant repellant business!
We did have fun and definitely learned quite a bit about ants. It was also so fun to see all the other creative projects on display.
Regan and her helpers got a certificate for participating and a coupon for a free ice cream cone. We went out to our favorite restaurant The Noodle House afterwards and were also able to celebrate over a yummy ice cream cone for dessert.
Congratulations, Regan!
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| Regan and her display. In the front (l to r) is her "plain" bowl for the simplified experiment, the maze template and then the actual maze. I had to help her make the graphs but she put in all the data into excel. |
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| Making the maze template (making a maze is harder than it looks and we definitely needed a template) |
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| The 2nd experiment with plain bowls - the one on the left makes the ants go around the glue to get to the honey. The ants did *not* like that glue! |
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| Regan on stage getting her certificate. |
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| Celebratory ice cream afterwards |
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