Learn How to Make an Insect Zoo or a Caterpillar/ Butterfly Farm Due to the replacement of the wetlands by commercial businesses and private residents, many natural habitats of butterflies have become scarce, especially the Monarch Butterfly. This butterfly is a signature insect that is not endangered, but sensitive. This instructional design is provided to help young people learn about insects, how to identify them, their life cycle, other aspects about survival, and to grow to appreciate nature by observation and interaction with it. The world will go on as usual with or without them, it just won’t be as aesthetically pleasing.

One day Ammon went to visit his cousin, Addi, and to see her new rabbit. They played with Oreo.

“Can I have a pet,” Ammon asked his mother? “No,” said his mom. “We live in an apartment and no pets are allowed.” “I know,“ said his mother, “you can make an insect zoo and a butterfly farm. They will be your pets.” ”Hooray!” said Ammon. “Let’s learn how to make a butterfly farm and an insect zoo,” said his mother.

Making an insect zoo is simple. #1 Have someone older help you punch many holes in a clean lid. Click on each number to see what to do. #2 Put some stickers on a empty, clean, glass bottle. #3 Add some grass and twigs to the inside of the bottle. For extra decoration, you may want to color a backdrop.

Ammon is outside collecting bugs for his insect zoo. Help Ammon learn what an insect is. Remember to look closely in case an insect is using camouflage.

Sometimes when you try to find insects, they are hard to see because there is something called camouflage. Camouflage is a disguise that causes the insects to blend in with their surroundings.

Look closely and click on the pictures to find the camouflaged insects.

Can you find the insect? Look closely. Remember they look like they blend in with the surroundings. Click on the pictures to find the insect.

Click on the picture to find what an insect is. What is an insect? An insect is a little creature that has: 1.Six (6) jointed legs 2.Three (3) body parts 3.An outside skeleton

Which one is the insect? Click on the picture. A parrot has 2 legs. Try again. Look for the animal with 6 legs. A lizard has 4 legs. Awesome! You did it! Did you count the legs?

Click on the insects with 6 legs. No. A tarantula has 8 legs. Yes! A ladybug has 6 legs. Yes! A fly is an insect. No. Snails have only 1 foot.

How many legs does an insect have? Click on the animal that is an insect. Remember to count the legs. Great! You found the insect. An insect has 6 legs. Try again. A spider has 8 legs.

An insect has 3 body parts. Click on the insect to name the body parts. 1.The head is the top part. 2.The thorax in the middle part. 3.The abdomen is the bottom part.

Click on the arrows to find the body parts. Remember an insect has 3 body parts. The head The abdomen The thorax

How many body parts does an insect have? Click on the lines to count the body parts

Find the 3 body parts on each insect. Click on each line divider of each insect and find the 3 body parts. Head Thorax Abdomen Head Thorax Abdomen

An insect has an exoskeleton or a skeleton. Click on the picture to find where the exoskeleton is found. It is found on the outside of the insect’s body.

Click on the skeleton that is on the outside of the animal’s body. Great! The skeleton is on the outside. Try again. The horse’s skeleton is found on the inside.

Let’s compare. Can you find the animals with an inside skeleton? Insects have an outside skeleton. Click on the pictures. A dragonfly has a skeleton on the outside of its body. The crocodile’s skeleton in on the inside.

If you accidentally step on an insect, you will hear a crunch. That’s the skeleton breaking apart. Click to hear the sound.

Good Job! You have made an insect zoo and found an insect or two. When you found your insect, maybe it was really small. Maybe it was a little nymph or a little naiad. That is great because you can watch your insect grow up and get bigger and bigger, if you can keep it alive. All insects have a life cycle. There are 4 different life cycles. Your insect has one of them.

Group 1 Insect Life Cycle: No Metamorphosis This group of insects comes from the egg and looks exactly like it will when it grows up, except that it will be larger.

Silverfish, springtails, biting lice and sucking lice are the only insects in Group 1 No Metamorphosis

Group 2 Insect Life Cycle: Gradual Metamorphosis Insect in this group change shape gradually. There are three stages of growth, egg, 5 different stages of nymphs and the adult.

There are many insects with a Gradual Metamorphosis life cycle. Grasshoppers, termites, true bugs, aphids, earwigs, thrips and book and bark lice.

Insects with Gradual Metamorphosis have to be go through a nymph cycle.

Group 3 Insect Life Cycle: Incomplete Metamorphosis The young insects in this group change shape gradually. They do not look like adults until shedding their last skin. Then there is a change.

Dragonfly, mayfly, and a stonefly are all insects with two sets of wings. They have an Incomplete Metamorphosis. They turn into the adult after they shed their last skin.

Group 4 Insect Life Cycle: Complete Metamorphosis Some insects go through 4 stages of growth. None of the young look like the adult. Click on the adult. This is the adult.

Is a butterfly an insect? Click on the picture to find the answer. Is a caterpillar an insect? Click on the picture to find the answer. Yes! 6 legs, 3 body parts and an exoskeleton. A caterpillar is going to turn into a butterfly. Let’s see how!

Stage 1 : These are butterfly eggs. Butterflies lay their eggs on the leaf of the plant that they eat. Look on the leaf of a milk weed to find some eggs of the Monarch butterfly. Click to watch where the Monarch butterfly lays its eggs. e.com/watch?v=IjwDrMs k5IY&feature=relatedhttp:// e.com/watch?v=IjwDrMs k5IY&feature=related

Stage 2: When the egg hatches a little caterpillar comes out. A new caterpillar is called a 1instar. It is really little. The caterpillar eats and grows and changes into a 2instar and then a 3instar.

Stage 3 : The 5instar caterpillar is ready to make a chrysalis. Click on the link to see the butterfly spin the cocoon. h?v=DKjG1vm5F84&NR=1 Here are some different spun pupas.

Some caterpillars look really scary, but don’t worry. They are using a scare tactic so nobody will eat them. Click on the link to see the scariest caterpillar of all in action.

Caterpillars change 4 times. When they turn into a 5instar they are ready to make a chrysalis. Click on the numbers to put the caterpillars in order of age

Stage 4 : The pupa opens up and out comes the butterfly. Click on the link to see the cocoon open up. yVA&feature=related It looks different! It doesn’t look like an egg, or a caterpillar or a pupa.

The butterfly life cycle has 4 stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. Look at the pictures. Which one is missing? Click on the picture to find the missing stage. the egg

Oh! Oh! Sometimes another butterfly tries to copy a butterfly. This is called mimicry. Monarch butterflies taste nasty and birds won’t eat them. The Viceroy butterfly tries to look like the Monarch so birds won’t eat him. Look at the hind wings. The Viceroy has an extra black line going across the wings. Look at the hind wings again. The Monarch does NOT have an extra black line going across.

Let’s see if we can remember all the things that insects use so they won’t get killed or eaten by an animal. Mimicry The insect mimics another insect to protect itself. The insect disguises itself so it can blend in with its surroundings. The insect scares other insects or animals that might try and eat it. Camouflage Scare tactics Click on words to find definition

Another tactic is smell. Some insects use a bad, bad, bad smell so other animals will leave them alone.

Some insects are great fighters. They have a stingers and it hurts if they sting you. Have you had a bee sting?