Bug Basics
All adult insects have this exact number of legs.
What is 6?
This insect uses a special light in its abdomen to glow in the dark at night.
What is a firefly (or lightning bug)?
What eight-legged creature weaves sticky webs to catch its food and is a classic Halloween mascot?
What is a spider?
A butterfly's life cycle begins inside this tiny object attached to a leaf.
What is an egg?
What color is Ms. Frizzle’s famous bus that can shrink, fly, and dive underwater?
What is yellow?
An insect's body is divided into three main parts: the head, thorax, and this third section.
What is the abdomen?
Relative to its size, this tiny insect is one of the strongest animals on Earth, capable of lifting up to 50 times its own weight.
What is an ant?
Animals like bats, owls, and many night-active insects sleep during the day and hunt at night. What word describes this habit?
What is nocturnal?
Before a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it is in its worm-like larva stage. What do caterpillars eat constantly to grow?
What are leaves (or plants)?
What is the name of Ms. Frizzle’s green pet lizard who rides along on every field trip?
What is Liz?
Insects wear their skeleton on the outside of their body to protect themselves. What is this outer shell called?
What is an exoskeleton?
Insects like walking sticks and praying mantises blend into leaves and twigs to hide from predators. What is this trick called?
What is camouflage?
Spiders produce a liquid inside their abdomen that turns into strong thread when pulled out. What is this material called? How do flowers attract bees?
What is silk?
What is the hard protective casing a caterpillar forms around itself before turning into a butterfly?
What is a chrysalis (or pupa)?
When the class shrinks down to explore an ant colony, what is the main job of the queen ant?
What is laying eggs?
What sensory tools on an insect's head are used to feel, smell, and taste the world around them?
What are antennae (or feelers)?
Ants send invisible chemical scent messages to each other to mark trails to food. What are these chemicals called?
What are pheromones?
Centipedes and millipedes both have many legs, but which one has two pairs of legs on almost every body segment? What role do bees play in ecosystems?
What is a millipede?
What is the 13-letter scientific word for the complete physical change an insect undergoes from egg to adult?
What is metamorphosis?
Complete Ms. Frizzle's famous catchphrase: "Take chances, make mistakes, ________!"
What is "Get messy!"?
True or False: A spider is an insect. (Must explain why!)
What is False? (Spiders have 8 legs and 2 body parts, making them arachnids, not insects.)
Monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles every autumn to stay warm for the winter. What is this long journey called?
What is migration?
Only female mosquitoes bite humans and animals. What do they need from blood to produce?
What are eggs?
Grasshoppers skip the pupa stage; their young hatch looking like mini adults without wings. What are these immature insects called?
What is a nymph?
In an ant colony, worker ants are all of which gender?
What is female?