Bat and spider facts: a fact-or-myth science game for grades 3–5

1. Explain the rules: "I'll read a statement. Walk to Fact or Myth. Be ready to say why." Unsure? Stand in the middle and give a reason.
2. Read the statements one at a time. After students move, ask one person from each side to share a reason, then reveal the answer.
3. "Bats are blind." Myth. Bats can see, and many also use echolocation, bouncing sounds off objects to find their way.
4. "Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly." Fact.
5. "Bats are a kind of mouse." Myth. Bats are not rodents.
6. "One little brown bat can catch 600 or more mosquitoes in an hour." Fact.
7. "Some bats help cactus flowers make fruit." Fact. In the southwestern United States, three kinds of bats pollinate saguaro and organ pipe cactus.
8. "Spiders are insects." Myth. Spiders are arachnids: eight legs, two body parts and no antennae or wings. Insects have six legs and three body parts.
9. "All spiders make silk, but not all spiders build webs." Fact. Wolf spiders hunt on the ground without a web.
10. "Most spiders have eight eyes." Fact.
11. "People swallow eight spiders a year in their sleep." Myth. Spider experts have found no real case of this.
12. Wrap up by asking: "Which myth surprised you most? Why do you think people believe it?"

Extension: pairs write one new statement for the class to test, and must name where they found the answer.

Not celebrating Halloween? Bats and spiders are real animals, so call it an animal fact-or-myth game.

Differentiation: for younger or newer students, read each statement twice and show a quick sketch of the animal. For advanced students, ask them to fix each myth so it becomes true. For English learners, post fact, myth, insect, mammal and arachnid with drawings. For students with mobility needs, use thumbs up for fact and thumbs down for myth, or hold up a card, so everyone answers the same way.

Quick check: students tell a partner two ways a spider is different from an insect.

If you try it, tell us which statement split your class down the middle.