• insect zoo

Fees

Now booking for summer 2024!!!

Summer 2024 program information!

Back by popular demand!!! 

***Traveling Bug Camp:

($425 plus mileage) 2-hour bug camp for up to 30 participants (requires 2 volunteers from location for camper/adult ratio). Ages 1st grade and up.

Campers will dive deep into the world of arthropods that are found in their own outdoor spaces! We will explore the local outdoor space on a guided bug hunt, collect and identify insects and release them back into the wild. Campers will go home with an Insect Zoo drawstring backpack and a renewed (or new) appreciation for our multilegged friends. You can add on a 1-hour display for an additional $200 for campers and the public. PLEASE NOTE: Availability is limited for these camps. Ideas for outdoor spaces include: Pollinator gardens, prairies, vegetable gardens, urban gardens, wooded areas, water! Collecting area must be within walking distance. More details and information to give to participants, will be provided at a later date.

Love our Earth, Love our Bugs:

($250 plus mileage) 1-hour display (No limit on participants). 2-hours for $400

Invite your whole town to check out over 100 species of living arthropods, on display in your own space! Knowledgeable Insect Zoo staff will talk about why our multi-legged friends are important for a healthy Earth, how you can help them in your own outdoor spaces, and how you can Spread the Bug Love! Many hands-on opportunities to handle millipedes, beetles, walking sticks and more! Bring in your photos of bugs to be identified or even the bug itself!

The Insect Zoo can visit up to 3 locations in one day! Those locations near each other, who share a day, will split the total mileage.

***Donate to the Insect Zoo***

www.foundation.iastate.edu/insectzoo

The Insect Zoo charges the following fees for our programs and displays

School programs are $125.00 per 1-hour session. (Limit of 30 participants per program)

Non-school programs are $150.00 per 1-hour session. (Limit of 30 participants per program)

Large Group programs are $250.00 per 1-hour session. (Unlimited participants) Only available weekends and summer.

Please fill out a request form for a precise quote. Quotes will not be given via email or phone.

Please note that our geographic range is limited to the state of Iowa.

Community Outreach

Transcript or Alternate URL: 

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Join the Iowa State University Insect Zoo as we showcase over 100 living arthropods. From beetles to roaches, tarantulas, and scorpions, come get up close and personal with some very important animals! Insects and other arthropods are vital for our environment. Insects are decomposers, recycling nutrients back into the earth. They filter water and are a sign of stream health. Many arthropods help to distribute seeds of trees and plants and aerate the soil. Insects are also important pollinators, pollinating 1 out of every 3 bites of food you take!

 

Come spend some time exploring the bumpy exoskeleton of the death feigning beetles, feel the light touch of a walking stick on your arm, hear the hissing cockroach and touch the soft and fuzzy Rosie the tarantula.

 

The Insect Zoo is a traveling outreach program through the ISU Entomology Department that was started in 1995. As we travel around Iowa Spreading the Bug Love, we visit over 38,000 Iowa kids each year. Our hands-on approach helps people see the delicate importance of these misunderstood animals. We aim to educate all humans on the diverse group of Arthropods: insects, spiders, tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, shrimp, crabs, and lobsters.

 

You can visit the Insect Zoo’s website to request us to visit your school, daycare, fair, farmer’s market or even a birthday party! Zoo.ent.iastate.edu

You can even set up a family visit for a behind the scenes tour of our animal rooms!

Teacher Resources

Honeypot Ant Vocabulary Words

Use this vocab sheet to learn about the Honeypot Ants!

Honeypot Ant Word Find

After learning the Honeypot Ant vocab words, use this word find as a fun way to reinforce those words!

There is also an answer key.

Bug Coloring Pages

You can print these fun coloring sheets for your learners!