Ant War Game

I learned all about how to build a successful ant colony by playing the Ant War Game.  This game has you first pick which type of ant colony you would like to develop. It gives you a brief description of your ant species to choose from (leaf cutter, harvester, weaver, carpenter or fire).   From there you establish how much of your colony you want to do the different activities. The grandfather ant will give you tips on what you should be increasing or decreasing.

Once you have decided how to distribute your forces, clicking on the "go" button takes you to your ant hill.  Here you will see how your choices have played out for you. You will earn or lose points as seen at the bottom of the screen. Again on this screen grandpa ant gives you more advice on what you should be doing to create the best aunt colony.

I found the game to be very simple. My daughter, age 8, was  interested in playing once she saw the game.  The only thing that I would like to see improved in the game is the instruction. There is no "help" or "how to play". I see that there are other screen shots in the game of the ants going to war, but I have no idea how far I have to be in the game to go to war.  There is also a store that I can purchase things with the gems I have earned, but I don't know

 what everything is.  Even looking at the screen where I decide how to distribute the forces of the colony, I can't tell what all the graphics represent.  It would be helpful if as I scroll over them, there was text that tells me what it is.  I would also like a screen prior to the game being started that gives me a chance to read the objective of the game and how to play.

This game could very well be used in a classroom to teach students about the different species of ants.  In addition it could be used to show how ants increase their colony size and what their predators are.  I think kids would be receptive to playing it, and I think they could play it many times since the game offers such variety with the various species of ants and the choices you can make.