Materials:

—5 Plates for food (you could use paper plates, plastic plates or lids, or a paint palette)

—Several different types of food to put on the trays

—Small bread crumbs

—Small piece of meat

—Small slice of orange or apple (or any fresh fruit)

—Small chunks of walnuts or other nuts

—Honey

—Paper and pencil to record your notes

Experimental Procedure:

1. Set out five plates for the food.

2. Put bread crumbs on one plate, a small piece of meat on a second, fruit on the third, walnuts on the fourth, and honey on the fifth.  Try to make sure the pieces of food are about the same size.

3. Find an anthill that seems to contain many ants. Make sure that the anthill does not contain fire ants, which have a reddish-brown head and thorax, but a darker abdomen.

4. Place the five plates near the anthill.

5.  Leave the area for about an hour.

6.  When you come back, count the number of ants on each plate, and record the results.

7.  Repeat the previous step after 1.5 hours, and after two hours.

8.  Count the number of ants again and record the results.

9.  Examine your data. Which foods did the ants like the best? The least? Why do you think that was so?

Thanks to https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/an-ants-favorite-food/ for this great science experiment!