Animals: Mealworms

Crawl into the world of the darkling beetle with this scientific investigation. Watch as the insects move through the larval, pupal, and adult stages of life, recording observations along the way. Discuss the necessities of life as young...

Students discuss ways that butterflies and moths change during their lifecycles, observe caterpillars, and explore how their different body parts work.

Caterpillars' and moths' most obvious change is physical, but what happens to their nervous systems as they complete metamorphosis? Through a hands-on investigation, young scholars construct the nervous system of a caterpillar. They then...

Students view pictures of animals as they complete the metamorphosis from a larva to an adult. In this metamorphosis lesson plan, students view pictures and in the end are able to match pictures of a larva stage to an adult stage in...

Students use a map and colored pins to plot the migration path of Monarch butterflies. They use data found at the Journey North website. Commas are also used in the activity to show how they are put in a series of words using butterfly...

Young scholars observe offspring (mealworms) that do not initially resemble their parent organism (darkling beetles) throughout complete metamorphosis. They also create and maintain an appropriate habitat for the mealworms.

Fifth graders build worm habitats and observe the activities of mealworms and earthworms. They experiment to show how the worms react to changes in light, temperature, touch, moisture, food, etc. They even watch as some of the mealworms...

Learners observe the inherited traits in earthworms and mealworms. For this organisms lesson, students view a live mealworm and earthworm on a tray and identify the body parts. Learners measure the worms and observe the behavior....

Fifth graders examine the lifecycles of earthworms and mealworms. In groups, they make sketches, measure, and read about mealworms and earthworms. They travel between stations to examine a different part of their lives. To end the...

Students make different motions for each stage in the butterfly life cycle and plant a garden. In this butterfly life cycle lesson plan, students can take the mini gardens home and discuss how butterflies help gardens.