Educatin' young minds - take #1

Today I gave my first bug talk - in 12-13 years - to Marika's preschool class. Armed with several boxes of my graduate school insect collection, some insect nets, acrylized bugs and Hissamina (a very reluctant participant), we trotted off to school. For an entomologist, talking about bugs to little kids is so much fun - they are the best audience! Everybody has a story to tell. The funniest thing to me, though, was having the kids get closer and closer to the insects as I started to show the collections.

Unfortunately, there's always *one kid* who is obsessed with the fact that the insects are all dead. Yes, the sad and awful truth about insect collections is that you really can't identify the small ones unless they immobile. At least nobody cried. =)

Most of them wanted to pet Hissamina (who was none too pleased, but still refused to hiss on command) and thankfully, she remains unsquished. They also seemed to enjoy running around the grounds with the butterfly nets - and at least they all caught (at least) a few flies.

So, hopefully I made a good impression. It's not very often I get to talk about my favorite little critters! Next week, I've been invited to Mika's class. I wonder how different the first graders will be...