Three home schooling lessons for teaching children about insects.
Metamorphosis (recommended for K through 2nd grade)
Teaches life cycles and nutrition
You will need some caterpillars and a place to keep them. Caterpillars can be collected outdoors in the spring, or can be ordered from biological supply companies. Make sure you provide an appropriate habitat and food for your caterpillar; you may have to do some research on keeping your particular species happy.
Lesson 1: Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Talk about what caterpillars like to eat and why they eat so much.
Lesson 2: Identify your species of caterpillar. Internet fact sheets exist for most insects. Learn about its life cycle and individual needs. Draw a picture of your caterpillar in its current state and note any observations about its behavior.
Ongoing: Make sure your caterpillar has the food and water it needs to live until it eventually builds a cocoon.
Lesson 3: Draw a picture of your caterpillar in its cocoon and review what is happening to the caterpillar in its current state.
Lesson 4: When the butterfly emerges from the cocoon, draw a new picture of it and discuss what butterflies eat and need. Set your butterfly free.
Insect anatomy (recommended for 2nd though 5th grade)
Teaches anatomy of insects as well as differences between insect and human anatomy
You can download diagrams and photos of images from the Internet for this lesson as well as looking at either live insects or insect movies.
Lesson 1: Learn about insect anatomy. Insects are a member of the invertebrate family and do not have backbones. Instead, every insect has a three-part body that includes a head, a thorax and an abdomen. Label diagrams with all of these parts. What other parts do some insects have?
Observe the common characteristics all of the insects have.
Lesson 2: All insects hatch from eggs. Look at pictures of insect eggs and try to guess what insects come from each egg type.
Lesson 3: What do the differences in insect anatomy let some insects do? How are insects the same as people and how are they different? Watch some videos of insects in action and talk about their abilities and a human's abilities.
All about Honey bees (recommended for 3rd though 6th grade)
Learn about how honey bees produce food and their role in nature.
Honeybees hold an interesting place in nature. Not only do they produce honey, but they pollinate many plants allowing them to reproduce. For resource materials, purchase some honey with natural honeycomb in it and find photos of bee hives and honey bees.
Lesson 1: About the honey bee. Discuss the answers to all of the following questions. What is a bee? Where do bees live? Learn about how bees live in colonies. What is the queen's job? How do bees communicate?
Lesson 2: Making honey. How do bees make honey? Follow the whole process from the collection of nectar to the production of honey. Briefly discuss bee safety.
Lesson 3: What is symbiosis? Bees need the nectar from flowers to make their honey. But, they also carry pollen from one flower to another, fertilizing it. When they fertilize it, it allows the plant to reproduce. For example, an orange tree cannot grow fruit unless it has been pollinated. This relationship, where the bees and the flowers need each other is called symbiosis.
