Kindy, preschools, pre-prep & early learning centre Workshops

At Bugs Ed. we believe you are never too young to learn about the amazing world of insects! So we have recently developed a pre-prep program that has been a huge hit so far in Kindergartens and Child Care centres.

The program is fun and interactive, with lots of photographs, props and displays of both live and dead insects to keep inquisitive little people engaged and entertained. A huge display of resin mounted creepy-crawlies allows for hands-on fun and our audiences love the chance to hold a friendly stick insect.

Or choose from one of our Primary School topics which can be adapted for a younger audience.

Super Senses

This workshop promotes active learning processes by encouraging students to investigate the natural world of minibeasts. Through play-based activities, we look at how our bodies are different from the bodies of insects. Students will imagine what it is like to be an insect and act out how they see, smell, taste and sense their environment. What would it be like to taste with your feet? Imagine having ears on your knees! What would it feel like to breathe through holes in your stomach? Amazing cases of preserved insects and arachnids from around the world and live Australian insects are used to illustrate ideas and helps to make the learning experience very interactive and hands-on. This workshop is a great addition to the Staying Alive topic in the Primary Connections unit.

Primary School Workshops

Our primary school workshop topics have been carefully developed and are continually revised to compliment the Australian Curriculum in Science. Whether your school utilises C2C, the Primary Connections Units or other teaching packages, there is bound to be a Bugs Ed. workshop that will suit your requirements. If not, we are happy to tailor a workshop to meet your specific needs.

All of our workshops combine a PowerPoint presentation with amazing photographs to introduce key concepts, large display cases of preserved insects and arachnids from around the world and live Australian insects to see up-close (you can even hold a stick insect)! Hands-on resources to see and touch and ample time to ask questions, makes this a fun, interactive experience for all.

Click on the topics below to learn more about the workshops available, or contact us to have one specially designed to meet your requirements.

Secrets to Success

Insects are the most diverse and successful group of organisms on Earth. They have walked the planet for nearly 400 million years and during this time have colonised every possible habitat.

Learn the secrets to their success by looking at their external features and how they use them to capture prey and exploit different food sources, elude predators and cope with life in harsh environments.

This workshop is a great introduction to the world of insects for all ages. It combines the aspects of many of the other workshop topics into one action-packed session.

This workshop compliments many of the biological science teaching units, such as Staying Alive (Foundation Year) and Schoolyard Safari (Year 1) programs in the Primary Connections Units and the C2C units Our Living World for Preps; Living Adventure for Year 1; Is it Living? for Year 3 and Survival in the Australian Environment for Year 5.

Insect Lifecycles

The journey an insect takes from egg to adult is intricate and interesting. New skins must be grown to accommodate increasing waistlines and growing wings requires some special strategies.

Students will be shown insect larvae, pupae, cocoons, egg cases, shed exoskeletons and live insects such as stick insects to illustrate the different kinds of metamorphosis certain insects undergo.

This workshop is great for students studying change and growth in different organisms and perfectly complements the Year 2 Good to Grow or Year 4 Ready, Set, Grow C2C units or the Year 2 Watch it Grow! Primary Connections Unit.

Super Senses

This workshop encourages students to look at how their bodies are different from the bodies of insects. They will imagine what it is like to be an insect and act out how they see, smell, taste and sense their environment. What would it be like to taste with your feet? Imagine having ears on your knees! What would it feel like to breathe through holes in your stomach?

This workshop promotes active learning processes by encouraging students to investigate the natural world of minibeasts through play-based activities. It is a great addition to the Staying Alive (Foundation Year) and Schoolyard Safari (Year 1) programs in the Primary Connections Units and the C2C units Our Living World for Preps and Living Adventure for Year 1.

Friends or Foes?

We rely on insects to pollinate our crops, enrich our soil, clean up after us and provide a vast array of materials which we use to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves. On the other hand, some insects are responsible for the destruction of crops and the spread of disease.

This workshop teaches students about pest and beneficial insects and how they impact on our way of life. We investigate how some insects can be used to fight crop pests and eradicate weeds and also explore the insects that can bite us, annoy us or make us sick.

Students will enjoy learning about familiar insects such as lady beetles, assassin bugs, dung beetles, bees, cockroaches and more.

This is an excellent workshop for understanding our relationship with insects and how we interact with them in the web of life. This workshop perfectly complements the Year 4 Friends or Foes Primary Connections Unit.

Predators & Prey

This workshop explores the ways in which predatory insects seek out, catch and kill their prey. We look at some of the most ferocious hunters on the planet, including preying mantids, robber flies, ant lions and assassin bugs.

We also examine the strategies insects use to avoid becoming someone’s lunch! This covers defensive techniques such as camouflage and mimicry through to more assertive tactics like chemical warfare.

This workshop is great for illustrating the way insects fit into food chains and also how they use their external features and behaviour to exploit a variety of different feeding types.

This workshop would complement the Staying Alive (Foundation Year) and Schoolyard Safari (Year 1) programs in the Primary Connections Units and the C2C units Our Living World for Preps and Living Adventure for Year 1. It is also a really fun way to finish up the end of your unit.

Amazing Ants

As the title suggests, this workshop explores all things weird and wonderful about ants. We explore the vast mazes of an ant’s nest, learn about the division of labour within a colony and look at the ways ants forage for food and defend themselves.

Students will learn about the world’s most amazing species of ants, from the ferocious Australian bull ants, to the horticultural leafcutter ants and the largely unpopular fire ants.

This workshop uses ants as a focus to compliment the Staying Alive (Foundation Year) and Schoolyard Safari (Year 1) programs in the Primary Connections Units and the C2C units Our Living World for Preps; Living Adventure for Year 1; Is it Living? for Year 3 and Survival in the Australian Environment for Year 5.

Build-a-bug

This hands-on workshop combines insect classification and morphology with the fun of designing and making your own insect. Students will learn the differences between insects and their close relatives such as spiders, scorpions, millipedes and centipedes. They will see preserved displays of these minibeasts from all around the world and will also meet some live Australian insects.

We explore the external features of an insect’s body, what they are used for and how they differ depending on where the insect lives, how it moves and what it eats. With this in mind, students will then construct their own insect using provided material.

This is a fantastic workshop that teaches scientific concepts, in a fun and interactive way. It would nicely compliment the Year 3 Feathers, Fur or Leaves program in the Primary Connections Units. It would also be a fun way to finish up the Staying Alive (Foundation Year) and Schoolyard Safari (Year 1) programs in the Primary Connections Units and the C2C units Our Living World for Preps; Living Adventure for Year 1 and Is it Living? for Year 3.

Insect Classification

This workshop introduces students to the most common groups or Orders of insects we commonly encounter around our homes, gardens and schools. We focus on the unique external features of each group and learn how they differ in their behaviour, habitats and lifecycles.

A specially designed dichotomous key allows students to classify provided insect specimens or photographs into various orders. This is a fun, hands-on workshop that illustrates the use of dichotomous keys in science and introduces key concepts and terminology for the classification of organisms.

This is a great workshop to compliment the Year 3 Feathers, Fur & Leaves program for Primary Connections.

Insect Pinning & Mounting

Traditionally reserved for high school students, an increasing number of younger students have taken up the challenge of learning how to start an insect collection. This workshop is suitable for students aged 8 and up. They will learn everything they need to know including how to collect, mount, label, preserve and present an insect collection.

As part of this workshop, students will be provided with a setting board, pins, mounting needles, labelling card, instruction booklet and an Australian butterfly and beetle/bug to mount.

This is a great workshop to compliment the Year 3 Feathers, Fur & Leaves program for Primary Connections.

Secondary School Workshops

Our secondary school workshop topics have been carefully developed and are continually revised to compliment the Australian Curriculum in Science and the Senior Secondary Curriculum in Biological Sciences. Insects are a wonderful tool to illustrate biodiversity, evolution, adaptation, food webs and symbiosis. If the workshops here aren’t quite what you are after, we are happy to tailor one to meet your specific needs.

Our workshops combine a PowerPoint presentation with amazing photographs to introduce key concepts, large display cases of preserved insects and arachnids from around the world and live Australian insects to see up-close. Our presenters are all tertiary-qualified entomologists who can not only handle the curliest questions, but are positive role models and can offer advice for anyone considering embarking on a career in science.

Click on the topics below to learn more about the workshops available, choose from one of the primary school topics (which can be adapted for an older audience) or contact us to have one specially designed to meet your requirements.

Insect Classification

This workshop explores how classification helps to organise diverse groups of organisms such as insects. We discuss the morphology, behaviour, reproduction, metamorphosis and ecology of different types of insects and explain how these factors contribute to their enormous success and diversity.

Students will use a specially designed dichotomous key to classify provided insect specimens into various Orders, giving them the opportunity to work with some unique Australian insects. This is a fun, hands-on workshop that illustrates the use of dichotomous keys in science and introduces key concepts and terminology for the classification of organisms.

This workshop works in well with the Year 7 Biological Science curriculum, in that it teaches students about grouping a variety of organisms on the basis of similarities and differences in particular features. Under the senior secondary curriculum – biological sciences, this workshop teaches students to use classification keys to identify organisms as a means to help organise, analyse and communicate data about biodiversity.

Insect Pinning & Mounting

Fieldwork is an important part of studying biological science and gives students valuable opportunities to collect and display data first-hand in order to understand local ecosystem interactions. Collecting and comparing a diversity of insects is just one way to illustrate how the physical environment, human influences, climatic conditions and health of a habitat can influence the diversity and abundance of organisms found there.

Insects are readily found in all environments all year round, making them an ideal research tool for both class investigations and independent research projects.

This workshop teaches students everything they need to know on how to catch, kill, mount, label, preserve and present an insect collection for scientific research.

As part of this workshop, students will be provided with a setting board, pins, mounting needles, labelling card, instruction booklet and an Australian butterfly and beetle/bug to mount.

Insects in Ecosystems

Insects are the largest and most diverse assemblage of organisms on the planet. They occupy every possible niche within the food web and have evolved their bodies to help them exploit a variety of different food sources. They form intricate & complex relationships with other organisms such as plants, fungi and both vertebrate and invertebrate animals.

This workshop explores how insects interact with other organisms, including us, in the web of life. We examine different examples of symbiotic relationships, how insects impact on our way of life (both positively and negatively) and explore the great diversity of habitats they occupy and foods they eat.

This workshop has been designed with the Year 9 science curriculum in mind and will help students understand interactions between organisms such as predator/prey relationships, parasites, competitors, pollinators & disease. It is a great workshop for introducing biological science concepts such as symbiosis, food webs, evolution and diversity.

Eating insects for sustainability

By 2050, Earth will be home to 9 billion people. How will we feed them all? A 2013 report by the United Nations has suggested we follow the lead of many non-Western societies around the world and consume insects in order to meet our population's ever-growing protein needs.

In this workshop we learn how sustainable insect farming can reduce land clearing, slash greenhouse gas emissions and reduce food waste, as well as provide a nutritionally superior (and pretty delicious!) source of protein.

See displays of popular insect cuisine from around the world, such as mealworm spaghetti, stir-fried crickets and grasshopper tacos. Students can even have the opportunity to make and eat their own chocolate-covered mealworm and sample some delicious chocolate chip cookies made from protein-rich mealworm flour.

This workshop shines a spotlight on sustainability and is relevant across several learning areas, such as Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Environmental Studies.

Vacation Care

School holidays are a great time to explore the amazing world of insects and minibeasts around us. Our vacation care workshops have been carefully designed to provide the right balance of learning and hands-on fun. By combining stunning photographs, displays of preserved specimens and live local insects, students of all ages and year levels will be engaged and excited. With hands-on resources to see and touch and ample time to ask questions, our workshops will keep even the most fidgety holiday goers engaged and entertained.

The topics below are our most popular choices for vacation care groups, but feel free to choose from any of our primary school topics. We can even offer bug hunts/walks around the school grounds or run workshops on how to make your own insect collections for older students. Please contact us to discuss your options


Build-a-Bug

This hands-on workshop combines our usual amazing displays of minibeasts with the fun of designing and making your own insect. By looking closely at our cases of preserved insects from around the world, kids will learn about the external features of an insect’s body and see how they differ depending on where the insect lives, how it moves and what it eats. With this in mind, students will then construct their own insect using provided craft materials.

With the chance to hold a live stick insect, resin blocks of preserved minibeasts to pass around and time to ask all of their curly insect questions, this a fun, interactive experience for any age.

Secrets to Success

Insects are the most diverse and successful group of organisms on Earth. They have walked the planet for nearly 400 million years and during this time have colonised every possible habitat.

They come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, from the beautiful to the downright bizarre! Learn how they capture prey and exploit different food sources, elude predators and cope with life in harsh environments.

This workshop is a great introduction to the world of insects and minibeasts for all ages. It combines amazing insect images, large display cases of preserved insects and arachnids from around the world and live Australian insects (you can even hold a stick insect!) into one action-packed session.