Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Crickets
Have you ever heard the sound of a cricket chirping at nighttime? If you're trying to sleep, you might find the sound very annoying. Long ago people in China and Japan enjoyed the nighttime singing of crickets. People kept crickets in cages in their bedrooms so that the crickets could sing lullabies to them at night.
How does a cricket make that chirping sound? Only male crickets are able to chirp. They make the chirping sound by rubbing their forewings against each other. The top of one wing works like a scraper against the underside of the other wing. Crickets can make different sounds. Some chirping sounds might be used to attract female crickets. Other chirping sounds might be used as alarms to signal danger. How fast a cricket chirps depends on the temperature. If the night is warm, the cricket will chirp faster than if the night is cool.
Crickets are not picky eaters. They are scavengers and will eat almost anything they can find. Crickets like plants, paper, dead insects, and seeds. They also like cloth, including wool and silk.
