Ways to use this list
- Minibeast hunt: press Minibeast hunt before going outside, spin three creatures, then look under logs, stones and leaves to find them.
- Leg count: spin a creature and decide whether it is an insect with six legs, a spider with eight, or a centipede with far more.
- Life cycle posters: spin a butterfly, beetle or dragonfly and draw each stage, noting that a dragonfly skips the pupa stage and grows up as a water nymph.
- Invent a bug: set Winners to 3, combine one feature from each insect into a new creature, and give it a scientific-sounding name.
- Bug fact hunt: each child finds one surprising fact about the insect they spin, such as dung beetles steering by the light of the Milky Way.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (45 entries)
- Honeybee
- Bumblebee
- Wasp
- Hornet
- Ant
- Termite
- Monarch butterfly
- Swallowtail butterfly
- Blue morpho butterfly
- Atlas moth
- Luna moth
- Dragonfly
- Damselfly
- Mayfly
- Grasshopper
- Cricket
- Katydid
- Locust
- Praying mantis
- Stick insect
- Leaf insect
- Firefly
- Ladybug
- Stag beetle
- Dung beetle
- Rhinoceros beetle
- Hercules beetle
- Goliath beetle
- Weevil
- Cicada
- Aphid
- Shield bug
- Water strider
- Water boatman
- Assassin bug
- Mosquito
- Housefly
- Hoverfly
- Crane fly
- Earwig
- Cockroach
- Flea
- Silverfish
- Lacewing
- Antlion
Questions people ask
Are spiders insects?
No. Spiders are arachnids: they have eight legs, two main body parts and no antennae or wings. Insects have six legs and three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen), which is why spiders sit on the separate Not insects list.
What is a true bug?
To scientists, a true bug is an insect with a mouth shaped like a drinking straw for sucking juices, such as a shield bug, cicada, aphid or water strider. Ladybugs and fireflies are beetles, despite their names.
How many kinds of insect are there?
About a million species have been named, more than all other animals put together, and experts think millions more are still undiscovered. Beetles alone number over 350,000 known species.
Is it called a ladybug or a ladybird?
Both are right. Americans say ladybug, while people in the UK, Ireland and Australia mostly say ladybird. The main list uses ladybug and the minibeast hunt list uses ladybird, so pick whichever your class knows.
How do fireflies make light?
A chemical reaction inside the light organs near the tip of the body mixes a substance called luciferin with oxygen, and almost no heat is wasted. Each kind of firefly flashes its own pattern, which helps them find one another in the dark.
Are stick insects and leaf insects related?
Yes, they belong to the same group of plant-eating insects, the phasmids, named from a Greek word for ghost. Both hide by looking like the plants they eat, and many sway gently like a twig or leaf moving in the breeze.