Insects: Knowing Their Role
Developed by Jim Serfass, UME FEA-4-H
Grade Level:
2
Subjects:
Insects, Ecosystem Roles
Duration:
45-60 minutes
Program Type:
Student-Centered, Active
Setting:
Indoor/Outdoor
Key Terms:
Predator, Pest, Pollinator, Decomposer
Activity Adapted From:
Maryland State Standards: Grade 2: 3.0 Life Sciences F. Ecology
1. Explain that organisms can grow and survive in many very different habitats.
a. Investigate a variety of familiar and unfamiliar habitats and describe how animals and
plants found there maintain their lives and survive to reproduce.
b. Explain that organisms live in habitats that provide their basic needs.
 Food
 Water
 Air
 Shelter
c. Explain that animals and plants sometimes cause changes in their environments, such as
woodpeckers putting holes in trees, beetles eating the leaves of plants, earthworms enriching
the soil, etc.
Carroll County Standards
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MD Env. Lit. Standards
Insects (Grade 2)
Express, record, and interpret their attitudes about
insects.
Recognize and label the essential characteristics on
insects.
Demonstrate creative thinking through writing,
speaking, and constructing models in each unit.
Summarize and present results in written and/or oral
form.
Standard 4.0 Topic A: Cycling of Matter and Energy
Indicator 1: Explain how organisms are linked by the transfer and
transformation of matter and energy at the ecosystem level.
Goal: Students will understand that insects and other living things take on specific roles, and that
those roles affect other parts of the ecosystem.
Materials: Role cards w/ rules, 10 plastic buckets/containers, about 150 pom poms, hula hoop
Background: Insects are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet. They exist in
nearly every environment on Earth and are involved in many important ecosystem functions.
Insects interact with other living things in many ways, some of these interactions are viewed as
being beneficial to humans, such as pollination and the removal of insect “pests.” Other
interactions, such as the spread of disease and the destruction of crops by “pests” are harmful to
humans. In this activity, students will gain an understanding of the role that some local insects
have in the Maryland ecosystem.
Intro (optional):
- Ask students if they have any jobs or responsibilities at home or school.
- Make a list from the responses
- Ask students to think of some jobs that insects need to do
o Get Food, Water, Shelter
- Explain that different insects are good at getting these things in different ways
Procedure:
1) Establish a playing area, indoors or outdoors that is large enough for at least 20 students
to move around in.
2) Place 10 buckets (plants) in a circle around the perimeter of the playing area.
3) Place a hula-hoop (beehive) outside of the circle of buckets.
4) Place approximately 10 pom-poms in each bucket
5) Place all 20 of the cloth pieces in one bucket
6) Spread the remaining pom-poms on the ground throughout the playing area
7) Divide the class into groups and assign them roles, numbers can vary, but a good starting
ratio for a class of 20 would be:
7 Honey Bees
2 Hercules Beetles
3 Lacewings
1 House Wren
7 Aphids
Bee hive
~50
Pom-poms
Plants (start with 10 pom poms each)
Activity:
1) Use the directions on the insect role cards to describe what each insect will do
2) Assign motions and/or sounds to each animal group so that they can identify one another.
Examples:
Hercules Beetle: flexes arms and says “Hercules, Hercules”
Aphid: Makes chewing motion and says “Hmmm…this plant is delicious”
Honey Bee: Flaps arms and says “Bzzzzz”
Lacewing: Flaps arms and hums
House Wren: Flaps arms and whistles
3) Begin the game.
Optional: Before full game begins, have each group start at different times, have Honey Bees
begin first, followed by Aphids, Lacewings, Beetles, and then the House Wren.
4) The first round should last approximately 2 minutes. After the first round, have students
count how many pom-poms they have and how many are in each bucket (plant). Each
plant needs at least 5 pom-poms and at least 1 piece of cloth (pollen) in order to survive.
5) Numbers of pom-poms that insects and house wrens need can vary, but here are some
guidelines
Plants: 5 pom-poms and 1 piece of pollen
Honey Bees: 30 pom-poms in the hive
Aphids: 3 pom-poms each
Lacewings: 5 pom-poms each
House Wren: 10 pom-poms each
Optional: Record the numbers of organisms left at the end of the round
6) For the following rounds, play the game with the numbers surviving plants and animals,
or adjust the numbers in each group and play each round as a separate game.
Debrief:
1) Ask students what they thought of the role that they were in. Was it easy? Difficult?
Why?
2) Have students explain why their role was important, what did they do for the ecosystem?
3) If numbers were recorded at the end of each round, show students how populations were
affected by one another.
Sample Question: How did the number of pests at the start affect the number of plants at
the end?
4) Have students describe how people can hurt/help insects in the ecosystem.
Sample Question: How might killing aphids with pesticides affect lacewings, or honey
bees?
*Ecosystem: all of the connected components: non-living (abiotic), living (biotic), and manmade (cultural), that interact with one another in a particular area.
Extensions:
1) After the activity, have students write a few words that describe their experience as an
insect or bird. Have students compare based on what role they had.
2) Have students brainstorm about other insects or animals that could be put in the game.