Melbourne❜s Best Bug-Themed Activities for Kids

They're creepy and crawly, but strangely intriguing... and if your kids enjoy getting up close to a cockroach, wouldn't you prefer that it's at a museum and not in your kitchen?

For bug-themed fun with your favourite entomologist, hit up one of these non-kitchen spots!

Image Source: Melbourne Zoo 

The Butterfly House, Melbourne Zoo

Fortunately, some bug experiences don't involve the dentine exoskeleton variety. Butterflies are fun!

The Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo is a popular spot to catch (literally) some cute lil' critters for the young'uns to get a closer look at. While you may need to take off a jumper or two (it's super humid in there), do wear some hats as the butterflies love them and will often come and perch on a handy brim. Get your nerd on at the end of the glasshouse where the info about a butterfly's life cycle is found. 

Check out The Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo.

Image source: Museums Victoria 

Bugs Alive!

While you're already at the Museum, why not see, hear and smell the world of insects, spiders, snails and other invertebrates at the Bugs Alive! exhibition. 

The bug gallery is a popular spot for inquisitive kids, with both living and dead specimens of the tiniest size. Check out the interactive areas and imagine what a whole houseful of ants would sound like. Or not!

Check out Bugs Alive!

Bugs: Mighty Micro Monsters, IMAX Melbourne

Step next door to be taken on a journey to the bustling world beneath your feet to meet the true rulers of Planet Earth - bugs! And all on the world's largest movie screen too...

From the Kenyan savannah to the tropical rainforests of North-East Australia, the superpowers of these mighty micro monsters are revealed. In a playful nod to classic superhero movies, you will come face to face with some of the natural world’s most incredible creatures. Meet the beetle that can fire boiling chemicals at its attackers, a deadly spider with super strength and many more miniature superheroes.

The world of bugs exists on a completely different scale to our own, but with specialist macro camerawork we can now take you and your students into this three dimensional, textured world like never before. All around us, armies of millions of blind ants march beneath your feet, caterpillars transform into butterflies and tiny beetles fire boiling chemicals at vicious predators.

With help from top entomologists, or “bug scientists”, this film brings the incredible and sometimes fearsome world of bugs to life.

To find out more, head Bugs: Mighty Micro Monsters, IMAX Melbourne.

Main image credit: Melbourne Museum Facebook

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