We have crickets!

As those of you who teach second grade know, a major science goal for second graders is the life cycle of insects. We study both the incomplete and complete life cycles.  The complete life cycle is a lot of fun as we raise ladybugs, butterflies, and mealworms. To study the incomplete life cycle, we raise crickets from the nymph stage.  Our county science kit includes a card to order the little guys along with instructions and containers to create their living quarters.  Their habitat is somewhat of an ordeal to put together. Juli and I did Google how to make cricket habitats and there are a lot of sites out their if your county doesn't provide a kit.  I will forewarn you that the crickets don't have the best smell about them.  It was all Juli could do not to gag as she got close up for pictures.  TpT has a ton of great things for butterflies and mealworms.  There was nothing out there that I could find for crickets, so I made a few of my own. I plan to place them on TpT or you can click on the picture below to download them.  We have just begun our study of crickets, but the students are already fascinated. They check on them everyday when they get in the classroom.  For some reason, they seem less disturbed by the smell than Juli and I do! They had a great time labeling the habitat and predicting what each part was for.  I didn't draw our habitat in the one activity as your habitat may look different from ours.   Feel free to use and let us know how it works out for you. We would love to hear! 
Heather