Wild Weekends

It’s back and it’s buggier than ever! Bugfest returns to the Academy of Natural Sciences for two days full of insect activity. Touch live insects! Eat a bug! Cheer your favorite cockroach racer on to victory in the big “Roach Race 500”! Make an pooter and get a bug tattoo. This and more bugs than you can shake a stick are happening at our third annual Bugfest!

Thousands of exotic treasures of the sea will be on display and for sale when the Philadelphia Shell Show and Festival, this year with the theme of pearls, washes ashore at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The largest show of its kind in the Northeast, the Shell Show features competitive displays by collectors and amateur scientists; an international market with pearl jewelry, exotic shells and shell crafts; and behind-the-scenes tours of the museum’s world-renowned mollusk collection, the oldest in the U.S. and the third largest in the world. A festival of family activities includes squid dissections, shell games, story time and a craft to make and take home. Free with museum admission.

Celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with fun activities featuring dinosaurs and their closest living relatives, birds. Enjoy teacher-naturalist presentations and live bird shows throughout the day. Enjoy dinosaur story time and make a dinosaur craft to take home.

Dinosaur Day
Monday, December 27, 10 am – 4:30 pm

Dinosaurs come back to life through special presentations in Dinosaur Hall. Take what you have just learned and test your knowledge at the science stations, make a dinosaur craft to take home, and enjoy a live animal show.

Animal Day
Tuesday, December 28, 10 am – 4:30 pm

Live animals will be roaming the halls of the Academy for visitors to get a close-up look and to talk with the teacher-naturalist handlers. Learn more about the animals you’ll see at the Live Animal Shows, and make a craft to take home.

Butterfly Day
Wednesday, December 29, 10 am – 4:30 pm

Observe an array of beautiful butterfly specimens from around the world and learn about their life cycle. Make a craft to take home and attend live animal shows.

Weird Things in a Jar Day
Thursday, December 30, 10 am – 4:30 pm

They’re strange. They’re fascinating. They’re weird things in jars! See up close the animal specimens that reside in the darkest corners of the Academy’s vast research collection. After 200 years of collecting, our drawers and shelves are stocked full of weird and wonderful specimens. Learn how specimens are prepared for storage and study, and make your own craft to take home.