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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 had appeared in the mealworm tank by week 13?
  2. 2. What claim does this log support?
  3. 3. What did both kinds of insect leave behind as they grew?
  4. 4. Which insect went through a stage where it lay still and did not eat?
2.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A pupa
  • B.A nymph
  • C.A larva
3.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.It sleeps and stays the same
  • B.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  • C.It lays eggs
4.Which of these insects never has a pupa stage?
  • A.A moth
  • B.A cockroach
  • C.A bee
5.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
6.What does a nymph do as it grows?
  • A.It spins a chrysalis
  • B.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  • C.It stays the same size
7.How is a caterpillar different from the butterfly it becomes?
  • A.It looks completely different and has no wings
  • B.It has more wings
  • C.It is exactly the same, only smaller

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Black adult beetles. 2. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 3. Shed skins. 4. The mealworm, as a pupa.
  2. 2.A nymph
  3. 3.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  4. 4.A cockroach
  5. 5.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young
  6. 6.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  7. 7.It looks completely different and has no wings

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