Description
Join our experienced animal handlers to come up close to a different species each week, they will have the chance to learn about their care, lifecycles and handle them. Each child will get their own booklet which they can add to week on week and learn basic animal care skills. They will get a care sheet each week and the chance to ask our bug expert any questions about bugs they keep at home. The session runs Saturday from 13:30 – 14:30
For our Christmas deal if you purchase 17 sessions you get the last three for free! Meaning you get 20 sessions for the price of 17.
Book on early to avoid disappointment maximum of 15 participants to keep our sessions personal.
Ages from 5 -15yrs.
Session and animals covered:
20 sessions in total!
11th of January; Introduction week: Meet the team and learn the basics for caring for animals, we will also walk around the site and look at some of the areas we will be focusing on including the pond, forest school and meadow.
18th of January; Enclosure design; Learn how we have to change and adapt a habitat for a chosen animal of your choice! From snails, cockroaches, millipedes and stick insects, have a go at building your own and place the animals inside to see how they react to their new home.
25th of January; Microhabitats; After building habitats for the big bugs its time to create your own mini houses for some of our smaller residents that are essential to maintaining our woodlands, meadows and planet earth! Like our springtails and woodlice, get the chance to create you’re own which you can take home with you!
1st of February; Cockroach Week: Meet over three different cockroach species and learn the importance of them to our planet and how they get the reputation for being indestructible!
8th of February; Crab Week: Meet our vampire and hermit crabs! Learn how we provide both fresh and salt water to meet decorate some shells for our growing hermit crabs!
15th of February; Millipede and Centipede week; Time to meet the big tanks of the clean up crews in the woodlands, meet our giant african millipedes, chocolate millipedes and the small bumble bee millipedes! Get a close up look at Thanos and learn how we tell the difference between a millipede and centipede.
22nd of February; Beetle Week; Beetles similar to butterflies go through important different stages before emerging as adults in the woods! Learn their different life cycles and meet our Big beetles like our Sun Beetles and the amazing Blue Death Beetles!
1st of March; Stick Insect Week; Learn how different stick insects eat different food items and meet over four different stick insect species! Create some leaf rubbings and a ID sheet to use for identifying plants in the future!
8th of March; Snail/slug Week: Meet our Giant African Land Snails adult and babies, also the chance to meet the pancake slugs. Understand why they are super slimey and the importance of managing their breeding.
15th of March; Manits Week; Come up close with one of the the most fearsome carnivores in the arthropod world! Meet the big and small mantises and have a chance to feed them!
22nd of March; Cricket/Katydid Week: Meet Cinderella and Prince Charming our two Giant Thorny Crickets and one of our Giant Hooded Katydids! Listen to their fantastically loud calls and see them show of their impressive jaws, which our the strongest in the animal kingdom compared to their body size.
29th of March; Underwater species! We are going to head down to our pond to find what beautiful bugs live underwater and how some can change and grow to fly over the top of the pond! It will also be a good time to look for some tadpoles!
5th of April; Scorpion Week; Time to meet the armoured and UV light up creatures of the arachnid group! Meeting Green Goblin and Captain Marvel our Giant Asian Scorpions.
12th of April; Spider Week; Have a close look at one of the most misunderstood and wonderful animals in the world! Get a close look at our wandering spiders and the adorable jumping spiders. We will also head into our meadow to hunt for some wild arachnids *no handling of the tropical animals this week.
19th of April; Tarantula Week; Saving best till last! Meet our beautiful tarantulas the last of our tropical team and get to learn their wonderful behaviours like their happy dances!
26th of April; Social societies; Heading into the world of the social insects including ants, wasps, bees and termites! Learn how they are structured and why they can build their houses that t their scale, are taller then new yorks sky scrapers!
3rd of May; Moth morning! Join us as we open the moth trap and have a look inside to see what beauties of the night we have found and any other intruders that we might encounter!
10th of May; Butterfly week; Heading out across our beautiful meadows and butterfly friendly gardens to look for the beautiful butterflies of Britain!
17th of May; Dragonfly and Damselfly; Going down on our pond in search of natures most successful predators! The dragonflies and damselflies, looking for the adults and dipping to find their nymphs in the search for the biggest species like the hawkers and chasers!
24th of May; Our final week sets us off into our orchard to look for the coolest bugs before we head up to the forest school for a warm fire and marshmallows whilst we think upon which animal has been our favourite to meet!
Directions, Parking and Transport
Bug Club is at BEECHE visitor centre (next to Green Roof cafe), we are open throughout the day on Saturday, you are welcome to arrive early and we have activities like colouring in and puzzles whilst you wait. Each ticket provides you free access to the bug section so you can look around at the bugs you will meet whilst you wait.
High Elms country Park, Shire Lane, Farnborough BR6 7JH
What to Wear
The session will be based inside our Darwin Classroom and outside so please think ahead for the weather!
