Activity Stations for Insect Discovery Workshops

At this station, students learn how insects grow and spend some time with adult butterflies. Students enter a butterfly enclosure and coax live Painted Lady butterflies onto their fingers. Sitting quietly and observing are difficult skills for many young students, but butterflies are excellent teachers.

How do beetles and butterflies grow? Students explore metamorphosis playing with mealworms and the adult darkling beetles, then learn about how other insects develop.

Insects and other animals have different roles in the environment depending on what they eat. In this station each student is able find and appreciate some of the many decomposer insects and relatives that eat dead plant material and help turn it into soil. Each student also can have fun digging in the dirt to find each friendly live decomposer. We also learn to appreciate that unsung hero of decomposition – the cockroach!

This station explores different adaptations insects have that help them survive in the environment. Our local insects and arthropods have incredible adaptations! Students explore this through our Blue Death-Feigning Beetles and Vinegaroons. The blueberry looking beetles play dead when disturbed and the Vinegaroons (actually related to spiders!) shake vinegar out of their tails! Students also play a game that demonstrates the advantage of camouflaged coloration and demonstrates how natural selection lead to this adaptation.