Grade 3 · Science · Life science

3rd Grade Animal Life Cycles worksheets

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Animal Life Cycles

Grade 3 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

NameDate

Circle the answer.

1.
A butterfly has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult. A grasshopper has only three. Which stage does the grasshopper not have?
- egg
- adult
- pupa
- nymph
2.
Why does a grasshopper nymph not need a pupa stage?
- it never becomes an adult
- it is too big to fit in a pupa
- it already looks like a small adult and just grows
- it changes inside an egg instead
3.
Frogs and salmon both lay eggs in water. What does this tell you about their young?
- their young start life in water
- their young live inside the parent
- their young can fly right away
- their young start life on land
4.
A pond dries up in early summer. Which frog stage would be harmed most?
- tadpoles, because they need water to breathe
- frog eggs laid on dry soil
- froglets, which live only in trees
- adult frogs, which breathe with gills
5.
A ladybug larva and an adult ladybug look very different. How can a scientist show they are the same kind of animal?
- compare their colors on one day
- count the legs on the adult only
- watch the larva become a pupa, then an adult
- check which one is bigger
6.
Which pair of animals both go through four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult?
- butterfly and ladybug
- butterfly and grasshopper
- grasshopper and dragonfly
- frog and sea turtle
7.
Mosquitoes lay eggs in standing water. Why do towns ask people to empty buckets of rainwater?
- it stops mosquito larvae from growing there
- it gives adult mosquitoes water to drink
- it helps more mosquito eggs hatch
- it keeps the buckets from freezing
8.
A sea turtle hatchling has the same body shape as an adult. A tadpole does not look like an adult frog. Which statement is true?
- only the frog changes its body form as it grows
- only the sea turtle changes its body form
- neither one grows bigger
- both change their body form completely
9.
A chicken can live about 8 years. An adult mayfly lives about 1 day. What do both life cycles still include?
- hatching, growing, and making young
- a pupa stage inside a chrysalis
- living in water as adults
- growing for the same amount of time
10.
Look at the butterfly life cycle. Which missing stage does not eat at all?
- larva
- nymph
- tadpole
- chrysalis

3rd Grade Animal Life Cycles worksheet 1 – printable PDF — Download PDF: 1 2 3 4 5 6

About this worksheet

Animal life cycles show how animals are born or hatch, grow, become adults, and make young helps third graders connect observations with scientific explanations instead of memorizing isolated facts. Students may think every young animal looks like its parents, or that every insect has a pupa stage. This worksheet uses short evidence-based situations so students must read the setup, identify the pattern, and choose the answer that fits the science idea named in the title. Students order stages, find missing stages, compare insects with and without a pupa stage, and explain how adults start a new generation.

Support versions use familiar examples and direct wording. Standard and challenge versions add closer distractors and require more comparison. Encourage your child to point to the evidence in the prompt before choosing an answer. If the answer does not explain the observation or solve the stated problem, it is probably a distractor. That habit builds careful science reasoning and prepares students for longer investigations.