Summary
A cricket's chirp isn't made with its mouth — it rubs its wings together like a tiny fiddle. Deep Look zooms in on how the wing structures scrape to make sound and why crickets call so much.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A cricket makes sound by rubbing a rough edge on one wing across a scraper on the other. The wings vibrate the air, and that vibration is the chirp we hear.
- How does a cricket make its chirping sound?
- What is vibrating to make the sound?
- Why might a cricket call over and over?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: vibration, sound, wing, chirp.
Try it: Run your fingernail along a comb's teeth. Write how the buzzing you hear is like a cricket rubbing its wings.