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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. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
  3. 3. What did both kinds of insect leave behind as they grew?
  4. 4. What claim does this log support?
2.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.It sleeps and stays the same
  • B.It lays eggs
  • C.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
3.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
4.In a complete life cycle, which stage comes between the larva and the adult?
  • A.The nymph
  • B.The egg
  • C.The pupa
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.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
7.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A larva
  • B.A pupa
  • C.A nymph

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week. 2. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage. 3. Shed skins. 4. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage.
  2. 2.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  3. 3.It looks completely different and has no wings
  4. 4.The pupa
  5. 5.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  6. 6.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  7. 7.A nymph

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