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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. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
  2. 2. What claim does this log support?
  3. 3. Why were both tanks checked on the same day each week?
  4. 4. What had appeared in the mealworm tank by week 13?
2.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  • B.It sleeps and stays the same
  • C.It lays eggs
3.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
4.What do complete and incomplete life cycles have in common?
  • A.Both have a pupa
  • B.Both have a nymph
  • C.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young
5.In a complete life cycle, which stage comes between the larva and the adult?
  • A.The pupa
  • B.The nymph
  • C.The egg
6.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A fly
  • B.A cricket
  • C.A grasshopper
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 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage. 2. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 3. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week. 4. Black adult beetles.
  2. 2.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  3. 3.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  4. 4.Both start with an egg and end with an adult that can make young
  5. 5.The pupa
  6. 6.A fly
  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.