Animals & Nature · Unit 11
Insects and Minibeasts
Six legs and more: beetles, bees, butterflies, spiders and worms
Insects outnumber every other kind of animal combined, and they run the systems everything else depends on - pollination, decomposition and a large part of the food supply.
The unit covers the insect body plan, life cycles and metamorphosis, the social insects, pollinators, and the spiders, worms and other minibeasts that are not insects at all.
This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 109 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 18
- Questions
- 109
- Difficulty
- 2-3
What this unit covers
- Pollinators
- Spiders and Other Minibeasts
- Bees, Ants and Termites
- Insect Life Cycles
- The Insect Body
Where this fits
Follows Animal Groups.
Where people slip
Spiders are not insects. Eight legs, two body sections and no antennae, against six legs and three sections - the differences are easy to check once you know to look.
How the unit is structured
Insects and Minibeasts runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 3 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 109 in the unit altogether.
Bees, Ants and Termites
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
1. Which insects live in large organised colonies? Pick all that apply.
- Antscorrect
- Honeybeescorrect
- Termitescorrect
- Butterflies
Ants, bees and termites all live in colonies with different roles.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
2. Every bee in a hive does exactly the same job.
Answer: False
False. Bees have different roles, and workers change jobs as they age.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
3. Which insects build tall mounds with tunnels inside?
- Termitescorrect
- Butterflies
- Dragonflies
- Grasshoppers
Termites build mounds that can be metres high.
- True or falseLevel 2
4. Honeycomb cells are six-sided.
Answer: True
True. Hexagons store the most honey using the least wax.
- Type the answerLevel 2
5. What shape are the cells in a honeycomb?
Answer: hexagon
Hexagons fit together perfectly with no wasted space.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
6. Which jobs do worker honeybees do? Pick all that apply.
- Feeding larvaecorrect
- Building combcorrect
- Foraging for nectarcorrect
- Laying all the eggs
Cleaning, nursing, building, guarding and foraging are all worker jobs.
Insect Life Cycles
- Build the sentenceLevel 2
7. Build a sentence about insects.
Answer: Insects have six legs and three body parts
Insects have six legs and three body parts.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
8. Which insects undergo incomplete metamorphosis? Pick all that apply.
- Grasshoppercorrect
- Dragonflycorrect
- Cockroachcorrect
- Butterfly
Grasshoppers, dragonflies and cockroaches all develop through nymphs.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
9. What is a young butterfly called?
- A caterpillarcorrect
- A nymph
- A grub only
- A tadpole
A caterpillar is the larval stage of a butterfly or moth.
- Put in orderLevel 2
10. Order the stages from egg to adult butterfly.
Answer: Egg -> Caterpillar -> Pupa -> Adult butterfly
Egg, caterpillar, pupa, adult.
- Fact or fibLevel 3
11. Insect numbers are declining in many studied regions.
Answer: True
True, and researchers link this to pesticides, habitat loss and climate change.
- Sort into groupsLevel 3
12. Sort each insect role as helpful or harmful from a farming point of view.
Answer: Pollinating bees = Helpful; Predatory ladybirds = Helpful; Crop-eating locusts = Harmful; Sap-sucking aphids = Harmful
The same group contains vital allies and serious pests.
Pollinators
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
13. Which animals pollinate flowers? Pick all that apply.
- Beescorrect
- Butterfliescorrect
- Hummingbirdscorrect
- Sharks
Bees, butterflies and some birds and bats all pollinate.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
14. What is pollination?
- Moving pollen between flowerscorrect
- Watering plants
- Cutting flowers
- Eating leaves
Moving pollen from one flower to another so seeds can form.
- True or falseLevel 2
15. Many of the foods we eat depend on insect pollination.
Answer: True
True. Apples, strawberries, almonds and many more rely on pollinators.
- Type the answerLevel 2
16. What sweet liquid do flowers make to attract insects?
Answer: nectar
Nectar is an energy-rich reward.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
17. Why should gardens include flowering plants?
- They feed pollinating insectscorrect
- They keep insects away
- They stop rain
- They have no effect
Flowers feed pollinators, which in turn help plants and crops.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
18. Which measures support wild pollinators? Pick all that apply.
- Wildflower strips on farmlandcorrect
- Reduced pesticide usecorrect
- Leaving nesting habitatcorrect
- Mowing everything short
Wildflower margins, reduced pesticide use, nest sites and connectivity all help.
Spiders and Other Minibeasts
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
19. Which are arachnids rather than insects? Pick all that apply.
- Spidercorrect
- Scorpioncorrect
- Tickcorrect
- Ant
Spiders, scorpions and ticks all have eight legs.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
20. Why is a spider not an insect?
- It has eight legs and two body partscorrect
- It is too big
- It has wings
- It lives underground
It has eight legs, two body parts and no antennae or wings.
- Odd one outLevel 2
21. Which one of these minibeasts is not an insect?
- Woodlousecorrect
- Ladybird
- Grasshopper
- Wasp
A woodlouse is a crustacean, related to crabs.
- True or falseLevel 2
22. Spiders make silk in their bodies and spin it from spinnerets.
Answer: True
True. Silk is used for webs, egg sacs and safety lines.
- Type the answerLevel 2
23. What is the material spiders spin to make webs called?
Answer: silk
Spider silk is extremely strong for its weight.
- Sort into groupsLevel 3
24. Sort each minibeast into its group.
Answer: Beetle = Insect; Ant = Insect; Spider = Arachnid; Scorpion = Arachnid
Legs and body parts identify each group.
The Insect Body
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
25. Which are true of insects? Pick all that apply.
- Six legscorrect
- Three body partscorrect
- A pair of antennaecorrect
- A backbone
Six legs, three body parts and antennae define insects.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
26. How many legs does every adult insect have?
- Sixcorrect
- Four
- Eight
- Twelve
All insects have six legs, attached to the middle body section.
- Picture questionLevel 2
27. 🐞 Which animal group is shown here?
- An insectcorrect
- An arachnid
- A mammal
- A fish
A beetle is an insect, with six legs and three body parts.
- True or falseLevel 2
28. Insects have a hard outer covering instead of an internal skeleton.
Answer: True
True. The exoskeleton supports and protects the body.
- Type the answerLevel 2
29. What is the hard outer case of an insect called?
Answer: exoskeleton
An exoskeleton is worn on the outside.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
30. Which insect features aid survival? Pick all that apply.
- The ability to flycorrect
- Small size and hiding placescorrect
- Rapid reproductioncorrect
- Very long generation times
Flight, small size, fast breeding and varied diets all help insects thrive.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Multiple choice
- Odd one out
- Picture question
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise Insects and Minibeasts
109 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitRead about Insects and Minibeasts
Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.
- Why Do Bees Make Honey?Why do bees make honey? It is winter food storage, not a gift. Here is how nectar becomes honey and why the process makes it last almost forever.August 28, 2026 · 5 min read
- How Do Ant Colonies Organise Themselves?How do ant colonies organise themselves without a leader? Chemical trails, simple rules and the surprising truth about what the queen actually does.August 28, 2026 · 6 min read
- How Do Bees Communicate? The Waggle Dance ExplainedA honeybee that finds flowers tells the hive where they are with a dance. How the waggle code works, how it was cracked, and what else bees say.September 14, 2026 · 5 min read
- How Does a Caterpillar Become a Butterfly? What Happens Inside the ChrysalisA caterpillar does not sprout wings; it dissolves most of itself and rebuilds from cells it carried since the egg. The stages, the hormones and what survives.September 14, 2026 · 4 min read
More units in Animals & Nature
- What Is an Animal?What makes something an animal, and what every animal needs
- Pets and Farm AnimalsThe animals we live and work with, and how to care for them
- Animal GroupsMammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and creatures without backbones
- Habitats and HomesWhere animals live, from rainforest to polar ice, and the homes they build
- Baby Animals and FamiliesEggs and live young, animal parents, and growing up
- What Animals EatDiets, teeth, hunting, and how energy flows through a food chain
- MammalsFur, milk and warm blood, from bats and whales to big cats
- BirdsFeathers, beaks, flight and song across the bird world