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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. What claim does this log support?
  3. 3. Which insect went through a stage where it lay still and did not eat?
  4. 4. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
2.Why does a larva eat so much?
  • A.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  • B.It needs to grow wings straight away
  • C.It is about to lay eggs
3.Which of these insects never has a pupa stage?
  • A.A moth
  • B.A cockroach
  • C.A bee
4.What does a nymph do as it grows?
  • A.It stays the same size
  • B.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  • C.It spins a chrysalis
5.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
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 cricket
  • B.A grasshopper
  • C.A fly

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 4. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Bran. 2. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 3. The mealworm, as a pupa. 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.A cockroach
  4. 4.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  5. 5.It looks completely different and has no wings
  6. 6.A nymph
  7. 7.A fly

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