Insect Activities For Students: Crafts, Videos, Worksheets, And Life Cycle Exploration - Teaching Expertise (2024)

Kids are endlessly fascinated by insects. The life cycle of a butterfly, the iridescent wings of a dragonfly, and the honeycomb of a bee are just some of the incredible natural wonders they can explore in this collection of creative STEM-based lessons.

You'll find a variety of cross-curricular ideas connecting Science with Language Arts, Math, and Art including model building, bug catching, virtual tours, and research projects.

These elaborate yet clear anatomical drawings are an excellent way for kids to learn the body parts of various insects including butterflies, dragonflies, and grasshoppers.

Learn more: Twinkl

Hands-on learners will love building an insect of their choice out of common household objects. As an extension activity, they can present their scary and colorful creations to the class.

Learn more: Education.com

Apart from providing us with delicious honey, bees benefit humans by pollinating the plants that produce nearly all of our food. Students will learn about pollination, the different types of bees, as well as key buzzwords such as 'royal jelly' and 'venom.'

Learn more: World Bee Day

This animated kid-friendly video provides an easy-to-understand overview of a variety of insects along with some corny insect jokes. There are also a variety of extension activities to choose from, including a quiz, map, and fun matching game.

Learn more: Brain Pop Jr.

This part-art, part-math lesson is a creative way for students to learn about butterfly anatomy while reviewing the mathematical concept of symmetry.

Learn more: Deep Space Sparkle

This colorful beginner's reader book has repeated sentences on each page for building sight word recognition and includes a picture-to-word matching activity to reinforce student learning.

Learn more: Childhood 101

This inventive craft has students creating the life cycle for various insects including ladybugs and ants right on a drawing of their bodies! It's a fun and easy way to wrap up an insect unit.

Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers

Kids adore roll and count games since there is an element of surprise with each roll of the dice! This butterfly math game incorporates number recognition, writing numbers, and counting.

Learn more: Life Over CS

After learning about how compound eyes help flies survive, students will create a model of an insect’s eye using materials from around the home.

Learn more: Harry's Big Adventure

Apart from learning the tricky difference between camouflage and mimicry, students will discover why camouflage is essential to insect survival. As a wrap-up activity, they can camouflage their insect cut-outs and go on a hunt to spot as many as they can.

Learn more: Lesson Planet

Your learners will develop reading, writing, and comprehension skills while enjoying this fun collection of mazes, word scrambles, and coloring pages.

Learn more: Kids Activities Blog

Fruit flies have been used for genetic research for hundreds of years, making this experiment a great opportunity to have a science discussion about genetics and genetically derived traits such as eye color. Students are sure to love watching the life cycle of fruit flies unfold before their eyes.

Learn more: Education.com

Students will be delighted to see and learn about a wide variety of captivating critters including a towering walking stick, elegant praying mantis, and hairy tarantula, all from the comfort of their own classroom.

Learn more: Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants

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This comprehensive week-long unit includes a nonfiction book, poems, math games, hands-on science activities, and ideas for literacy centers. With lessons across different subject areas, students are sure to gain a well-rounded understanding of the insect world.

Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers

Building an insect house is a terrific way to get kids thinking about microhabitats and environmental protection, all while enjoying the great outdoors. They will have lots of fun welcoming critters into their tiny creations.

Learn more: Twinkl

Kids will have plenty of fun solving this engaging crossword while developing their problem-solving, vocabulary, and spelling skills. This is a fun way to wrap up a unit and reflect on all they have learned.

Learn more: Education.com

This packet poses helpful questions to guide students in their research. Once their projects are completed, they can share all they have learned about their favorite critters, including their habitat, diet, and life cycle.

Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers

With over one million species identified, insects are the largest class of animals on Earth. Help students learn essential vocabulary terms such as 'classification' and 'taxonomy' while categorizing insects into seven major orders.

Learn more: The Homeschool Scientist

Students will study the life cycle of a butterfly by shaping eggs, caterpillars, cocoons, and butterflies out of playdough. This hands-on activity is also a great way to develop their fine motor and artistic skills.

Learn more: Twinkl

This unit contains close reads for the most common insects including ants, bees, flies, and beetles, as well as open-ended questions for each passage. Students can also organize their ideas with graphic organizers and reflect on their learning with the accompanying writing prompts.

Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers

This informative and engaging video is a great way for students to see the butterfly life cycle up close. The accompanying writing and drawing activities are an easy way to reinforce student learning.

Learn more: Brain Pop Jr.

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