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One Hundred Hungry Ants
One Hundred Hungry Ants is not only a spirited and whimsical picture book story, it also serves as a fun visual introduction to math. Hi dee ho! It's off to a picnic we go! One hundred very hungry ants hurry to sample the delights of a picnic, but marching in a single file seems too slow for 100 empty stomachs. The smallest ant of all suggests they travel in two rows of 50, four rows of 25 . . . and the division begins. In five-star reviews, both teachers and parents report enjoying this book. As one put "My four-year-old loves this book! It has a silly cute repetitive song, and teaches about division and multiplication."
32 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
May 27, 2011
This is a good book to teach beginning division. The visuals, with the ants dividing into 2 lines of fifty, 4 lines of 25, 10 lines of 10... is a great idea. My four-year-old seemed to grasp the concept pretty well, which surprised me. We have recently found some little black ants sneaking into our home so my boys were hoping for more information about ants, maybe something factual, so we will look for such a book during our next library visit.
Shelved as 'childrens-books'
September 20, 2021
June 30, 2014
I have read many children’s books that help children deal with solving math problems by presenting the concept in a creative and fun way. But, I will admit that I have not read any math book quite like this one! “One Hundred Hungry Ants” is a children’s book written by Elinor J. Pinczes along with illustrations by Bonnie MacKain that deals with solving division math problems and it is an excellent way to help children solve division problems in a fun and creative way!
The book starts off with one hundred hungry ants heading towards a picnic site, determined to fill their stomachs with the delicious food ahead of them. But, then the smallest ant kept asking the other ninety-nine ants to divide into several groups of one hundred such as dividing into two lines of fifty and four lines of twenty-five, while delaying their time in getting to the picnic site.
Will the one hundred ants make it to the picnic in time?
Read this book to find out!
Wow! Such a simple and innocent picture book and yet one that packs so much humor and clever rhyming schemes that I was totally blown away by this book! Elinor J. Pinczes’ writing is extremely creative and hilarious to read as I was laughing my head off with the small ant’s determination to help make the group of ants move much faster to get to the picnic area. I really loved the many different ways that the ants formed up into groups such as being into two lines of fifty or four lines of twenty-five as it makes it easier for smaller children to understand how to do division and it is also creative enough for children to participate in the fun of the ants’ determination to get to the picnic area.
Bonnie MacKain’s artwork is creative and hilarious to look at as the artwork is scratchy and yet all of the ants (and the other animals) look so cute on each page. I especially loved the images of the other animals taking the food away from the picnic while the ants were too busy trying to organize themselves in lines to really notice this and it makes me laugh and feel a little sorry for the ants at the same time!
Overall, “One Hundred Hungry Ants” is a brilliant book that teaches children how to have fun with doing division problems and is hilarious enough to keep many children entertained for years!
Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
November 28, 2020
Classic illustrations.
Storybook meant to teach Math in a fun way.
Love how ants work in general. So yes, works fine.
And yes, the whole story is a great singalong!
Storybook meant to teach Math in a fun way.
Love how ants work in general. So yes, works fine.
And yes, the whole story is a great singalong!
August 12, 2011
This is a fun tale that incorporates math without being too heavy-handed with formulas or too boring. The rhyming, lyrical narrative and the beautiful woodcut illustrations complement each other nicely and I love that children will learn a little about multiplication and division by listening to or reading this story.
June 2012 update: we have been reading a lot of books by Elinor J. Pinczes recently and I realized that I had read this on my own. So we borrowed it from the library and I read it with our girls. It must be a popular book, because our first-grader knew the whole story and said that a teacher had read this one to her recently.
June 2012 update: we have been reading a lot of books by Elinor J. Pinczes recently and I realized that I had read this on my own. So we borrowed it from the library and I read it with our girls. It must be a popular book, because our first-grader knew the whole story and said that a teacher had read this one to her recently.
February 25, 2018
I already have A Remainder of One by the same author and I love it for teaching remainders hen doing division. This is a fun introduction to dividing and I am always trying to add new books to my collection of storybooks for teaching Maths.
March 22, 2012
Well, this is a math oriented picture book, and I can see that it might have been great if I had used it in that way. I chose to just read this as a regular story to my niece and nephew, however, because that just seemed appropriate for our moods this evening. They liked it ok, but I doubt they'll really remember it. I don't think I'll turn this one back in yet. I think I'll give this one more go with my niece, and really emphasize the math aspect of this book a little more. We'll see if she enjoys it more from that angle.
September 30, 2013
To find yummies for their tummies, 100 hungry ants try to find a way to get to the picnic faster before all the food is gone! One clever little ant divides them up using tricky math skills...will they get there in time?
One Hundred Hungry Ants sneakily throws in some math facts for the littlest readers.
One Hundred Hungry Ants sneakily throws in some math facts for the littlest readers.
November 20, 2016
I opine that the humor is more effective than the math, but this is still a cute book. Cover, however, is the best part. 3.5 rounded down because, imo, the community average rating is a bit too high. ;)
December 29, 2010
This book was perfect for our Picnic day in our week of summer in second grade. It was fun to read, the kids loved it, and there were lots of educational spin-offs we could take from it.
April 25, 2014
If only these hungry ants had memorized their multiplication tables.
November 10, 2017
I have used this book multiple times for multiple uses. Love teaching with this one.
January 21, 2020
Cute book to talk about beginners division.
March 29, 2023
One Hundred Hungry Ants is a great way to incorporate math while reading a book. The story starts off when a hill of hungry ants is able to smell whiffs of yummies carried by the wind. Immediately, the ants begin to march off in a single file line to the picnic. But when the going gets too slow, they divide into two rows of fifty, then four rows of twenty. By the time they got there, everything at the picnic is long gone since they took too long!
For most of the book, the illustrations are presented on double-spread pages. The overall color platelet is kinda muted. Ants are colored blue, instead of red like we typically see in other pieces. To empathize with their movements and frenzy changing, lines are drawn behind the multiple of the arts, each going in a different direction from the other. This includes spiral and curvy lines to show the flow. There is rhyme in the text, which makes it engaging and easy to follow along. I like that while the ants are marching to the picnic, they would stop and reevaluate their formation in order to get to the target faster. While heading there and making these stops, other wild forest animals would be walking in the opposite direction, coming back with food from the picnic. Seeing each of the lines that the ants are in while forming into groups, makes it easier for kids to see how a large group can be broken up into smaller ones. It also encourages them to perform trial and error as the ants continue to improve their methods of getting to the picnic in faster ways.
After reading this book, I think a good way to extend the lesson is by doing factoring activities. Doing Factor Rainbows will allow students to see all of the motivation pairs that can result in the same number. Money could also be a fun way to connect the story by having manipulative tools to help aid their thinking when finding equal groups. These activities would be beneficial to students since it allows them to be creative and work with various amounts of numbers.
For most of the book, the illustrations are presented on double-spread pages. The overall color platelet is kinda muted. Ants are colored blue, instead of red like we typically see in other pieces. To empathize with their movements and frenzy changing, lines are drawn behind the multiple of the arts, each going in a different direction from the other. This includes spiral and curvy lines to show the flow. There is rhyme in the text, which makes it engaging and easy to follow along. I like that while the ants are marching to the picnic, they would stop and reevaluate their formation in order to get to the target faster. While heading there and making these stops, other wild forest animals would be walking in the opposite direction, coming back with food from the picnic. Seeing each of the lines that the ants are in while forming into groups, makes it easier for kids to see how a large group can be broken up into smaller ones. It also encourages them to perform trial and error as the ants continue to improve their methods of getting to the picnic in faster ways.
After reading this book, I think a good way to extend the lesson is by doing factoring activities. Doing Factor Rainbows will allow students to see all of the motivation pairs that can result in the same number. Money could also be a fun way to connect the story by having manipulative tools to help aid their thinking when finding equal groups. These activities would be beneficial to students since it allows them to be creative and work with various amounts of numbers.
March 15, 2021
This book is a fantastically cute way to slip math into your child’s reading time. The story follows 100 hungry ants, as the title implies, as they rush on to seek out the nearby picnic. As the story progresses, the ants continuously change their pattern of movement to try and speed up. At first they start in one straight line of all 100. Then the littlest ant calls out that they need to speed up and they switch to two rows of 50. Then they switch again to four rows of 25, then 5 rows of 20, and finally 10 rows of 10. The entire time this is going on, the illustrations in the background show us all of these other animals like mice, skunks, squirrels, and even snails carrying away all of the picnic foods like donuts and burgers and fruits. By the time the 100 ants find the picnic, there is no more food left and they blame the little ant for rearranging them so many times. The story has a clear rhyme scheme and repetitive language which is great for getting kids involved and making sure they retain the story. It is also a great way to introduce or clarify multiplication. The art covers the book in double page spreads of wonderful images. The style reminds me of linocuts with lots of action lines and hatching to help tie the pictures together. I greatly enjoyed this book and think it would be a worthwhile addition to any classroom.
April 19, 2022
This book uses ants to teach children about grouping, counting, and building sets. The ants want to get to a picnic to get food, but they are moving way to slow. Each time they group themselves in a different way to see if they can get to the picnic faster. At first they were moving in a single file line, but then one ant realized that if they move in multiple rows they could get there faster. They eventually divided into ten rows and arrive to the picnic, but there was no food left. The other ants got so mad at the one ant that kept taking the time to put them in rows, that they all went after him. It was not technically his fault, because if he would have not put them in rows, they would have still not made it to the picnic in time. The illustrations are very cute and would be appealing to young readers. You can tell that the illustrator put a lot of time into the illustrations making sure all the ants were drawn out to see the different groupings that were described in the text. Children need fun ways to learn sometimes. These days everything is about work, work, work, instead of having some type of fun.
May 15, 2023
This book tells the story of 100 ant’s journey to a picnic to have a feast and their determination to get there before it is all gone. One ant keeps having the ants divide into different groupings saying they will get there faster that way. Since there are 100 of them, this includes 4 rows of 25, ten rows of 10, 5 rows of 20, etc. However, this doesn’t help the ants as when they arrive, they are too late, and the feast is gone. It also plays on rhyme and repetition as the lines repeat and flow with ease. A great opportunity to discuss division, and a connective way to discuss money as well since it is a total of 100 ants. Many math lessons could be done with this book, and I think it is a cute and creative way to integrate ELA and math. Great read for any classroom decision, or to have in a class library. Anyone can relate to the hunger and determination of these 100 hungry ants. Such a cute book that I personally enjoyed reading, which I do not often find with math concentrated books. So many activities can be created with this book, and it is sure to last the test of time.
May 12, 2021
Understanding grouping and regrouping is a key point of many basal math programs like Eureka. this book is a nice complement to that subject which students in first-fourth grade spend hours developing. This is up to a hundred, so it's mostly aspirational for first and second grade.
The ants are going to a picnic but they want to get there as quickly as possible. They move from one line of a hundred to two lines of fifty to four lines of twenty five to five lines of twenty. By the time they finally march up to that picnic, after a whole book's worth of rearranging, the picnic is done. The important thing is all the factors.
You can model this with your class when it's time to line up to go to lunch.
The art style is very simple. There is a limited color palette with a strong black outline. There were lots of black lines to denote shading and movement. There was no realism. The ants all have little faces and they are running around a vaguely khaki background.
The ants are going to a picnic but they want to get there as quickly as possible. They move from one line of a hundred to two lines of fifty to four lines of twenty five to five lines of twenty. By the time they finally march up to that picnic, after a whole book's worth of rearranging, the picnic is done. The important thing is all the factors.
You can model this with your class when it's time to line up to go to lunch.
The art style is very simple. There is a limited color palette with a strong black outline. There were lots of black lines to denote shading and movement. There was no realism. The ants all have little faces and they are running around a vaguely khaki background.
June 10, 2022
I think this book would be great for helping students learn to count by different groups of numbers like counting by ten. I think this book would probably work best at later kindergarten or early first grade level since it involves working with numbers up to 100. Another subject area that this book could be incorporated into would be insects, specifically ants, and how they behave. Questions I would ask during this book would be like “If the ants are in two rows now, how many ants are in each of the rows?” and “how did you figure that out?”. These would help students to explain their reasoning behind how they got their answer to the first question. I think this book would work best with a lesson using manipulatives like a chain of blocks to help students get use to breaking apart bigger numbers and counting by larger groups of numbers.
March 16, 2021
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes follows a group of 100 ants trying to get to a picnic. One little ant keeps stopping the ants and organizing them into different rows that are ways to multiply to get 100. This book is a great way to include math in reading or reading in math. This book is a great way to assist in multiplication or division. This book also has a repetitive phrase that will encourage a student to pick up this book to read themselves. I will have a copy of this book to incorporate into my math and reading lessons. The illustrations do a great job in adding to the story and show the multiplication sets.
May 15, 2023
The plot of Elinor J. Pinczes' novel One Hundred Hungry Ants centers on a troop of 100 ants that are attempting to reach a picnic. One tiny ant keeps halting the others and arranging them into different rows that represent methods to multiply by 100. This book is a fantastic method to incorporate math into reading or reading into math. This book is a fantastic resource for aiding in multiplication or division. A sentence that appears often in this book will persuade students to take it up and read it for themselves. I'll have a copy of this book to use in my mathematics and reading courses. The pictures do a superb job of enhancing the narrative and illuminating the multiplication tables.
May 15, 2023
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes is about a colony of 100 ants that are trying to get to a picnic. One little ant keeps stopping the others and putting them in rows that stand in for ways to increase by 100. A great way to combine math into reading or reading into math is with this book. This book is a great resource for those who need help with division or multiplication. Students will be persuaded to pick up this book and read it for themselves by a line that appears frequently in it. This book will be available to me to utilize in my math and reading classes. The illustrations are excellent in enhancing the story and illuminating the multiplication tables.
May 19, 2017
This book is about one hundred hungry ants preparing to eat at a picnic. It’s fun to see the ants going all over the place trying to organize themselves into rows so that they can get to the picnic faster.This story was cute and funny.The ants decided to divide into two lines of 50, four lines of 25, and 10 lines of 10. This book will be perfect for a first or second-grade lesson. It was fun to read, and there were lots of educational lessons could take from it. This book could be used to help assist with beginning multiplication and division.
June 21, 2017
Such a fun book of rhyming and simple multiplication! The ants were on their way to a picnic but the littlest ant kept stopping them to change their pattern, first one row of 100, then two rows of 50, etc. This caused them to take longer getting to the picnic and in the end, the food was gone. The other 99 ants were upset with the littlest ant, who said "It's not all my fault!"
A fun book to teach rhyming, repetition, and simple math. The pictures were very simple, but did a good job of portraying the lines of ants.
A fun book to teach rhyming, repetition, and simple math. The pictures were very simple, but did a good job of portraying the lines of ants.
February 9, 2018
Read this book on our 100th day of school. The class really enjoyed it (although they did not quite understand the math...they are 4-5 years old). The ants are hungry and on their way to a picnic. On the way, the smallest ant tells them to stop and get into shorter lines to get there quicker. The pictures on each page show various animals walking away with food while the ants are still on the way. Will they arrive in time or will it all be gone?
April 2, 2021
One hundred ants march off to find food at a picnic in a single file line. One little ant determines that they will get there "way too slow" so he divides them in 2 lines of 50. Naturally, that will get them there too slowly as well, so he continues reorganizing them until they are in 10 lines of 10 and there is no food left at the picnic! This would be a fun one to use for the 100th day of school, or to introduce division.
November 28, 2018
I remember my grandma used to read this book to me when I was younger and I absolutely loved it! I love the illustrations and the funny rhymes to go along with it. I also like how this book can be read to help teach a math lesson about a hundred and how we can break it into rows and columns. This book is animal fantasy and in the 1st-3rd grade range
December 31, 2018
100 ants march to the picnic. Can they get there faster? They decide to march two by two. But they're still not getting there fast enough. They march in rows of five... still too slow. Rows of ten? They finally get to the picnic, but all the food has been carried away already and the ants get nothing!
June 4, 2020
This is a good book if you want to teach children 1) ways 100 can be broken into groups, 2) that it is dangerous to know math, 3) that you will be beaten up by the group if you act as a leader, and 4) that smart children suffer from ostracism by the dumber people in society. Maybe true, but I'm not going to read it to any kids!
December 31, 2022
Great book for beginning conceptualization of division, especially for the math averse. My son and I loved the woodcut style illustration and laughed at how the other animals were running off with all the food (the turtle and snail were our favorite). I really appreciated how the illustration supported the story making it a great combination of author-illustrator effort to tell a great story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews