Skip to Main Content

Wings and Exoskeletons

Insects are the largest group of invertebrates. Students will explore these arthropods and learn about their anatomy, then create a drawing that depicts them in colorful ways.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    An arthropod is an invertebrate animal that has an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. The word "arthropod" comes for the Greek words for "jointed foot." Some examples include insects (such as ants, dragonflies, and bees), arachnids (such as spiders and scorpions), myriapods (such as centipedes and millipedes), and crustaceans (such as crabs, lobsters, and shrimp). Insects are the largest group of arthropods on the planet. Have students learn about some of their features. What are exoskeletons and how are they different from endoskeletons? How does the exoskeleton protect the insect? What are they made of? What are the three segments of an insect's body? How many legs do they have?

  • Step 2

    Ask students to look at images of some insects and use the images as inspiration as they depict them in a drawing. They could make the drawing realistic or fanciful, adding colors and markings not found on the insect. 

  • Step 3

    Have students present their art and discuss some of the information they learned about these invertebrate creatures. If they created fanciful artwork, ask them to discuss the ways these new colors and markings might help or hinder their survival.

Standards

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas. 

SCI: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Adaptations

Have students investigate crustaceans, which are also arthropods with exoskeletons. Have them learn some interesting facts about them. For example, they communicate through chemical signals, and most can regenerate lost limbs. Have them also explore how these creatures play a vital ecological role in the health of the planet.

All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. Have students learn about the differences between them and note some insects that are not bugs, such as beetles, butterflies and moths, bees, spiders, flies, centipedes, etc.