Summary
Ticks wait on grass with their hooked legs out, ready to grab a passing animal -- or a person. Deep Look shows the barbed mouthparts a tick uses to lock into skin and drink blood for days.
Viewer safety
This one shows a tiny animal feeding on blood, including human blood (a normal part of how these creatures live) -- preview if that might unsettle your class.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A tick can't jump or fly. It clings to grass tips with hooked front legs and grabs on when an animal brushes past. Then it saws into the skin with barbed mouthparts and cements itself in place -- structures built for holding on and feeding slowly.
- How does a tick get onto an animal if it can't jump?
- What keeps a feeding tick locked into the skin?
- Why is it smart to check for ticks after playing in tall grass?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: tick, host, barbed, mouthparts.
Try it: Draw a blade of grass with a tick reaching out its front legs. Write how a tick grabs on and why we check for them.