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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 were the mealworms eating?
  3. 3. What did both kinds of insect leave behind as they grew?
  4. 4. Why were both tanks checked on the same day each week?
2.Which of these insects never has a pupa stage?
  • A.A cockroach
  • B.A bee
  • C.A moth
3.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A cricket
  • B.A fly
  • C.A grasshopper
4.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.It lays eggs
  • B.It sleeps and stays the same
  • C.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
5.In a complete life cycle, which stage comes between the larva and the adult?
  • A.The nymph
  • B.The pupa
  • C.The egg
6.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
7.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

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage. 2. Bran. 3. Shed skins. 4. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week.
  2. 2.A cockroach
  3. 3.A fly
  4. 4.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  5. 5.The pupa
  6. 6.It looks completely different and has no wings
  7. 7.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time

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