Follow the Ants

Nia had a small red notebook with FACTS written on the front in shiny stickers. She liked true things. She liked finding them and testing them, like a tiny scientist in sneakers.

One bright morning, Nia saw a line of black ants walking across the warm patio stones. The ants carried crumbs and specks, each one marching like a little soldier. Nia crouched low.

"Hello, tiny walkers," she whispered. "Where are you going?"

She counted out loud. "One, two, three, four, five, six legs!"

Nia opened her notebook and printed carefully: Ants have six legs. Ants walk in lines.

She wanted a new fact. She wanted to try a test. Nia ran to the porch and brought back two jar lids. In one lid, she sprinkled a pinch of sugar. In the other, she broke off a tiny corner of a salty cracker.

She set the lids near the ant line, not in it. She drew a chalk circle so she would remember to step around the ants like a good neighbor.

"Let’s see which you like," Nia said. "This is my experiment." She put her chin on her fists and waited. Waiting was hard. Her knees wiggled. She hummed a little song.

A bee buzzed over the flowers. Nia felt a jump in her belly. Bees made her nervous. She took a slow breath. "Bees like flowers," she told herself. "I am not a flower. Be still." The bee zipped away. Nia smiled. Brave and careful, she thought.

The ants reached the lids. They touched the edges with twitchy feelers that looked like tiny question marks. One ant went to the sugar, then another, then four more. Some tried the cracker, but most tiny feet moved toward the sweet sparkle.

Nia wrote: More ants choose sweet. Try again later.

The ant line slid under the fence, through a low gap where the grass made a soft tunnel. Nia lay on her stomach and peeked. Beyond the fence was a shallow puddle with a skinny board across it, wobbly like a balancing game.

Nia wanted to see where the ants lived. She felt a twist in her tummy. The board looked tricky.

"I can be brave like an ant," Nia said. "Small steps. Test first."

She poked the board with a stick. It didn’t sink. She put one foot on, then the other, arms out wide like airplane wings. She watched her feet and moved slow. The board wiggled, but Nia kept going.

Plip! A drop from a leaf splashed the puddle. She didn’t look down. Step, step, step—she made it!

On the other side, the ants disappeared under a flat stone. If Nia held her breath and listened, she thought she heard tiny grass sounds. She couldn’t see inside, but she could see the door: a neat little tunnel like a pencil hole in the dirt.

She drew a picture in her notebook. She made a dot for the door and arrows for the path. She printed: Ant house door under rock.

“Studying something cool today?” called Mr. Gio, the neighbor, pushing a wheelbarrow of flowers.

“Facts!” Nia said. “Ant facts. Do you want to see my experiment?”

He smiled. “I do.”

Nia set up the two lids again, a few steps from the ant path. Sugar sparkles in one. Cracker in the other. She sat crisscross, hands on her knees, like a statue scientist.

“Testing means trying twice,” she told Mr. Gio softly. “To see if it happens again.”

Soon, ants gathered around the sugar lid. A few tried the cracker, but the sugar got busy with tiny feet. Nia wrote: Test two—same result.

She grinned. “Now I think it’s a real fact.” She drew a star next to her notes.

The wind lifted Nia’s hat. It rolled toward the wobbly board. Nia hurried but looked at the board first.

“Small steps. Test first,” she whispered, poking the board like before. It held. Step, step, step—she saved her hat and laughed.

Back on the patio, Nia showed her red notebook to her dad. “I learned three things,” she said proudly. “Ants have six legs. They walk in lines. And they like sweet more than salty. I tested twice.”

Dad gave her a high-five. “You were curious and careful,” he said. “And very brave.”

Nia waved at the ant parade. "Thank you for the facts," she told them. The ants kept marching, carrying their tiny crumbs like tiny heroes.

Nia hugged her notebook. “Tomorrow,” she whispered, “I’ll find a brand-new true thing.”