Primary School Activities

Curriculum links

Science Curriculum Levels 1-2: Living World

Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.

Science Curriculum Levels 3-4: Living World

Begin to group plants, animals and other living things into science-based classifications.

Students are working at levels 1-2 of the Curriculum if they can group similar insects together. They are working at levels 3-4 of the Curriculum when they can sort their insects into named groups such as bees/wasps, flies, beetles, or butterflies and moths (using insect books/guides if necessary)

Insect Treasure Hunt

Here, students are given a set time in which to collect one insect each. These are easily captured in wide-mouth clear screw-top jars.
NOTE: students may need to be told that insects have six legs and three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen). Show some pictures or captured examples to illustrate.
On return to class, group the insects (in their jars) so that jars with similar insects are grouped together. Use What is this Bug? or Flower visitors in New Zealand to identify the insects you have found.
When students have finished with the insects, they can be taken back to where they were collected from and released from their jars.
Students can create bar graphs to show the number of each type of insect they found - this is a good introduction to the ideas of 'biodiversity' and that some living things are more common than others.