Super Insects

In Spring 2020 Countdown developed a fantastic collection of insect cards and an album full of amazing facts and activities all about insects found in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is an excellent resource designed to help all of us learn more about our insects. Though the promotion has now finished the downloadable teaching and learning resources can still be used with your students.

Super Insects teaching and learning resources

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This unique set of science and cross-curricular activity cards connects with the Countdown Super Insects collectable cards and album. They are free and downloadable and provide extra activities, curriculum links and ideas for cross-curricular learning – use them to springboard creativity in your classroom.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Insects make up more than half of all living animals. They have amazing characteristics that allow them to thrive in harsh environments, and they play many critical roles in the environment as pollinators, nutrient recyclers in the soil and food sources. They have inspired stories and inventions (biomimicry) and can even help us to solve crimes (forensic entomology).

Mānuka beetle (Pyronota festiva)

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Māori name: kēkerewai, repowai

Family: Scarabaeidae

This beetle is an example of the Coleoptera order of insects. In the course of its life, this beetle feeds on a range of plants although it’s frequently found on or near mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium), hence its name. Mānuka beetles spend a year as larvae living in the ground feeding on the roots of plants like ryegrass and clover, which means they are sometimes considered a pest species.

Image sourced from iNaturalistNZ, © Steve Kerr, CC BY 4.0

Rights: Steve Kerr, CC BY 4.0

In Countdown’s Super Insects collectables there were 72 cards and 32 puzzle insect cards. The Science Learning Hub collaborated with Countdown to produce additional teaching and learning resources to add value to the Super Insects cards and album.

The following unique set of 10 science activity cards and additional cross-curricular activity cards connect with the Countdown Super Insects collectable cards and album. The resources are free and downloadable, providing extra activities, curriculum links and ideas for cross-curricular learning, suggesting how teachers might use these cards as a springboard for further exploration and learning. The overview poster is designed to be printed in A3 and used in a staffroom or classroom wall – use it to encourage creativity in the classrooms.

• Super Insects – Overview poster (PDF: 27 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 1 – What is an insect? (PDF: 13 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 2 – Life cycle of our kahukura (PDF: 15 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 3 – Amazing adaptations (PDF: 11 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 4 – In our gardens, fields, native bush and mountains (PDF: 14 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 5 – Introduced species (PDF: 15 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 6 – Rare and endangered (PDF: 13 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 7 – Terrific travellers (PDF: 12 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 8 – Strong, big and fast (PDF: 13 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 9 – Around our streams (PDF: 12 MB)

• Super Insects – Activity card 10 – Good for our land (PDF: 13 MB)

• Super Insects – Extra cross curricular activities (PDF: 27 MB)

The Super Insects Activity and Collector's Album is available in PDF format. The album includes lots of insect facts, diagrams, games, art ideas and even a recipe!

• Countdown's Super Insects Collector Album – 2 pages per page (PDF: 49 MB) is formatted to resemble a picture book and is ideal for viewing online.

• Countdown's Super Insects Collector Album – individual pages (PDF: 49 MB) splits the album into individual pages and is ideal if you want to print one of the games or activities.