Cricket Thermometers!

As I'm typing this entry, I have 500 mealworms and 500 crickets in my house ready to be dinner for our four constantly hungry bearded dragons. The sound is like the great outdoors right here in my home office! We have so many insects in Florida it can look like the ground is crawling away, so we're used to the idea of having bugs around. These guys remind me of a fun project that you can do this summer with your own crickets. (If you don't have a bucket of 500, you can always have your children catch one in the yard or you can buy them at a bait store or pet store for less than a dollar. Be sure they are large enough to chirp!) Count the number of cricket chirps per minute. Subtract 40, divide that number by 4, and then add 50. This should give you an estimate of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. This simple activity can be expanded into a full length science project, too. Practice math by converting Fahrenheit to Celsius; just subtract 32 and then multiply by 5/9. For younger students or for a rough estimation, you can subtract 32 and divide in half, but the answer will be off by a couple of degrees. You could also utilize the scientific method and see how accurate the crickets are compared to a real thermometer. Learn about cold-blooded animals and see if the crickets chirp faster or slower if they are outside or inside the house. Finish up with a picture book like The Very Qiuet Cricket by Eric Carle or a book on tape like The Cricket in Times Square. If you try this project, leave a comment and let me know how it turned out!