Insect activities for families

October half term is usually a really busy time for families in Oxford University Museum of Natural History. In previous years, thousands of families would take part in a wide range of fun activities under the dinosaurs. This year, we were unable to engage with families in the same way.

In response, the museum's family learning team developed activities for learning at home.  Activities were inspired by the museum’s Hope collection of British insects. This collection is currently being re-curated with generous support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

Families can now visit the Creatures of the Night page and the museum website to download resources to make crafts inspired by the British insect collection. These include colourful moth finger puppets, a dazzling moth decoration and a moth hotel. Photographs of moth specimens from the collection were also used to create beautifully intricate colouring sheets. 

Fusion Arts and the Museum put their resources together to create activity packs. Activity packs were delivered to Barton Community Association for distribution to families with limited access to digital resources.

See the activities here.