Middle school students can develop and enhance their observation skills by participating in teacher-guided scientific inquiry (NRC 1996) activities where they observe animals that tend to act in known, predictable ways. Madagascar hissing cockroaches ("Gromphadorhina portentosa") are one such animal. This article presents beginning, intermediate, and advanced Madagascar hissing cockroach (MHC) activities that develop and nurture the scientific inquiry skill of observation in middle school students. The author concludes that once this skill has been developed and nurtured, students can be further challenged by conducting observational and experimental studies using statistics. (Contains 10 figures.)