Barfing Flies Did You Know…Flies taste with their feet? Insects have taste organs which are usually located on their mouth parts; but some insects, such as house flies can taste with their feet. When a fly walks on your pizza, nerves in the fly’s feet detect the presence of different chemicals in the food and […]
Necturing
Unlike caterpillars, adult butterflies do not have mouth parts that can cut and chew food. Instead, they exhibit a feeding behavior called necturing, which means to sip the nectar from flowers. Butterflies have a long feeding tube, called a proboscis. This tube remains coiled when not in use as shown in the photo (right). When […]
Insect Craft
A fun insect craft created by science author Janice VanCleave.
How Insects Walk
Lifters: I Wonder…How Does a Bug Walk? As a bug walks, three legs support the weight of the body while the other three legs swing forward to a new position. To walk like a grasshopper, ant, or ladybug try this:ig. With two friends, you can model how insects walk. Discover for Yourself * Adult step […]
Insects: Molting
Insects, including grasshoppers, have an outer covering on their bodies called an exoskeleton. This covering protects their soft bodies, gives it support, and shape. A newly formed grasshopper eats and its body grows larger. But the exoskeleton never changes size. When the exoskeleton gets too tight, it splits and the grasshopper wiggles out. The grasshopper […]
ButterflyWing Color
You can use a butterfly wing craft to teach camouflage. First prepare a butterfly wing for each child. This can be done by folding one-fourth of a sheet of green construction paper in half. Draw the wing pattern shown, and then cut it out. Cut a large leaf from the remaining section of the green […]