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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 were both tanks checked on the same day each week?
  2. 2. What will hatch from the stick insects' eggs?
  3. 3. What had appeared in the mealworm tank by week 13?
  4. 4. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
2.Why does a larva eat so much?
  • A.It is about to lay eggs
  • B.It needs to grow wings straight away
  • C.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
3.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
4.How is a caterpillar different from the butterfly it becomes?
  • A.It has more wings
  • B.It is exactly the same, only smaller
  • C.It looks completely different and has no wings
5.What does a nymph do as it grows?
  • A.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  • B.It spins a chrysalis
  • C.It stays the same size
6.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A larva
  • B.A nymph
  • C.A pupa
7.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A grasshopper
  • B.A cricket
  • C.A fly

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week. 2. Tiny nymphs shaped like the adults. 3. Black adult beetles. 4. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage.
  2. 2.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  3. 3.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  4. 4.It looks completely different and has no wings
  5. 5.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  6. 6.A nymph
  7. 7.A fly

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