Math is not the only topic that will be discussed when young children are asked to care for and count “mealworms,” a type of insect larvae (just as caterpillars are the babies of butterflies, these larvae are babies of beetles). The following activity can take place over two months as the beetles undergo metamorphosis from larvae to adults. As the children care for and count the insects, they will make observations, think what defines an insect, begin to understand life cycles and life spans, and gain big vocabulary words that they love to know and use to feel like “real” scientists.