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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. Which insect went through a stage where it lay still and did not eat?
  3. 3. What will hatch from the stick insects' eggs?
  4. 4. Why were both tanks checked on the same day each week?
2.In a complete life cycle, which stage comes between the larva and the adult?
  • A.The pupa
  • B.The nymph
  • C.The egg
3.What do complete and incomplete life cycles have in common?
  • A.Both have a pupa
  • B.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young
  • C.Both have a nymph
4.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A fly
  • B.A cricket
  • C.A grasshopper
5.A dragonfly nymph lives under water and the adult flies. Which kind of life cycle does it have?
  • A.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  • B.Complete: egg, larva, pupa, adult
  • C.It has no life cycle
6.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  • B.It lays eggs
  • C.It sleeps and stays the same
7.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A larva
  • B.A nymph
  • C.A pupa

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Bran. 2. The mealworm, as a pupa. 3. Tiny nymphs shaped like the adults. 4. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week.
  2. 2.The pupa
  3. 3.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young
  4. 4.A fly
  5. 5.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  6. 6.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  7. 7.A nymph

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