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Mealworms and Stick Insects is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on using an insect log to compare complete and incomplete metamorphosis, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 3-LS1-1. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

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Mealworms and Stick Insects

3-LS1-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Mealworms and Stick Insects

A log the class kept of two insect tanks, checked every Monday for sixteen weeks. MEALWORM TANK Week 1: small brown larvae, called mealworms, eating bran Week 6: larvae longer; empty skins where they had shed Week 10: some larvae still and pale, curled up as pupae, not eating Week 13: black adult beetles; no pupae left STICK INSECT TANK Week 1: tiny nymphs, shaped like the adults, eating privet leaves Week 8: nymphs much longer; shed skins on the leaves Week 16: adult stick insects laying eggs; no pupa seen at any point

  1. 1. What were the mealworms eating?
  2. 2. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
  3. 3. What claim does this log support?
  4. 4. What did both kinds of insect leave behind as they grew?
2.In a complete life cycle, which stage comes between the larva and the adult?
  • A.The egg
  • B.The pupa
  • C.The nymph
3.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A larva
  • B.A pupa
  • C.A nymph
4.Why does a larva eat so much?
  • A.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  • B.It is about to lay eggs
  • C.It needs to grow wings straight away
5.What does a nymph do as it grows?
  • A.It stays the same size
  • B.It spins a chrysalis
  • C.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
6.A dragonfly nymph lives under water and the adult flies. Which kind of life cycle does it have?
  • A.Complete: egg, larva, pupa, adult
  • B.It has no life cycle
  • C.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
7.What do complete and incomplete life cycles have in common?
  • A.Both have a nymph
  • B.Both have a pupa
  • C.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Bran. 2. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage. 3. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 4. Shed skins.
  2. 2.The pupa
  3. 3.A nymph
  4. 4.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  5. 5.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  6. 6.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  7. 7.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-LS1-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.