Monday April 12th is Cicada Day, in honor of the historic emergence of cicadas this year.
2021 will see a special emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas. These 17-year cicadas have the delightful name of Magicicada septendecim. Periodical cicadas emerging this year are the children of cicadas from our last outbreak in 2004!
These cicadas will emerge in all Indiana counties, but are most common in south-central Indiana.
How are these cicadas different than the ones we see each year?
When should we expect to see our new, extremely loud, cicada friends? Learn all about them this Monday!
Cicada Q and A
Dr. Elizabeth Barnes and Dr. Elizabeth Long answer your questions about our historic Brood X periodical cicada emergence this year.
Anytime Activities:
Teachers! Here is a fantastic lesson plan related to musical insects and understanding sounds as vibrations.
Vibrating Insects: An integrated multimodal unit on sound for early elementary students. Science and Children—March/April 2021 (Volume 58, Issue 4).
Cicada Origami
How about a little relaxing art project for lunchtime? (All Ages)
- Print-out pattern made by Jacque Davis
- Traditional Origami Pattern from Origami Resource Center
- Cicada and Their Look-A-Likes Poster
- Learn more about cicadas
Please post photos of your origami on your social media, and tag it with #BugBowl30 so we can enjoy them with you. Having fun? Here’s over 30 MORE origami insect patterns for you to try!
Cicada Cookies (made of crickets)
Thank you to Chirps for sponsoring this video and providing the cookie contest prizes! Why yes, we are having a contest for cicada cookies!
- Full Cicada Cookie Contest Rules
- Our Cicada Cookie Recipe
- Food Prep Safety Tips
- Cicadas and Their Look-A-Likes Poster
- Learn more about cicadas
Please post photos of your cicada cookies on your social media, and tag it with #BugBowl30, or tag us on Twitter and Facebook. Some lucky folks will win a free bag of insect chocolate chip cookie mix from Chirps!
Zombie Cicadas: Coming to a town near you!
They don’t want to eat your brains…. but they would like the rest of their bodies back, please. (All Ages)
Cicada Community Science!
Bug Bowl 2021 is a little early for cicadas, so we hope you will join us for Indiana Cicada Fest, May 1st-9th! On these days, pick a spot with cicadas, photograph as many plants or animals as you can find, and add them to our Cicada Fest Project!
All you need to do is:
- Join iNaturalist if you aren’t already a member (It’s basically Pokemon IRL)
- Join our iNaturalist project
- Pick your favorite spot to go outdoors (e.g. parks, forests, your backyard, anywhere you enjoy being outdoors!)
- Head outside during the week of May 1st-9th and look for any interesting plants, animals, fungi, and hopefully some cicadas!
- Snap a picture and upload your observation to iNaturalist.
Because we have so many more digital tools available than we did 17 years ago, this is your chance to help us learn more about this fascinating species.
Full Digital Bug Bowl 2021 Schedule
Questions About Our 2021 Schedule?
Email bugbowl@purdue.edu