How to Make Finger Paint Ants
Finger paint is a useful tool for painting the bodies of a wide array of insects and animals. It is particularly useful in making ants, since their bodies consist mainly of three attached, circular parts: a head, a smaller thorax and a larger abdomen. Making finger paint ants is not only fun, it also helps you become familiar with ant anatomy in an engaging and creative way.
Things You'll Need
- White construction paper
- Black, dark brown or red finger paint
- White finger paint
- Thin paintbrush
- Thin black permanent marker
Instructions
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1
Dip the tip of one of your index fingers into black, dark brown or red finger paint, then press your finger firmly onto a sheet of white construction paper to make a fingerprint representing the ant's head. Use black or dark brown paint to create a carpenter or house ant. Use red paint to create a fire ant.
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2
Dip the tip of your pinky finger into the paint of the same color you used in Step 1. Press it against the paper directly to one side of the larger index fingerprint to create an adjacent print representing the ant's thorax.
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3
Dip your thumb into the paint. Press it to the side of the pinky fingerprint you made in Step 2 to create a larger fingerprint representing the largest segment of an ant's body, its abdomen.
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4
Let the finger paint dry, and then draw two eyes and a mouth onto the ant's head using a thin paintbrush dipped in white paint. You can also draw these facial features with a black permanent marker if you are making a red fire ant.
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5
Draw two antennas extending from the top of the ant's head with a black permanent marker. Drawn six lines for legs, four on the bottom of the ant's thorax, and two attached to the bottom of its abdomen.
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Tips & Warnings
Children can draw finger paint ants inside of a bubble letter "A" as part of a lesson on words that begin with the letters of the alphabet.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
