Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair (SISF) 2022 - preview

Just over two years ago (remember those times?), I published a preview of the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair, in March 2020.  I had fully intended to post a review of the event, as I often do, but things went slightly awry shortly after, and I never took the time to write it (in fact, I didn't have the time, as we were all rapidly introduced to homeschooling).

Anyway, now is the time to fix that miss, because this year's Bug Day is at Staffordshire University's Science Centre (although it might be at the new Catalyst Building, which I assume is nearby) and it's on Saturday, 5 March from 10:30 - 4:00.  Did I mention that it's free admission?  This is the event that keeps on giving.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating:  the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair (aka 'Bug Day' in our house) is one of the highlights of the events diary each year.  There's the Big Biology Day which typically falls in October, also hosted at Staffordshire University, and Bug Day which falls in April - six months apart, to keep all your budding scientists engaged at the start and end of the year.  

We visited the most recent one in March 2020, and even though there was some general apprehension about COVID (we didn't even really know what it was at that time) there was a great turnout of staff and visitors.  At the time, our children were three, eight and ten, and they all had a great time:

The two things that consistently stand out about the Bug Day are the experts and the number of hands-on activities.  This is not a walk around a series of glass cases, peering inside dank, mouldy, dimly-lit tanks looking for a glimpse of some heavily-camouflaged creepy-crawly.  Oh no, on the contrary: providing it's safe for the bugs, and for the little hands, there is a multitude of opportunities to touch, stroke, hold, and get up close and personal with all sorts of insects and other creatures.  If necessary, you can look at them down a microscope, or see a TV screen hooked up to a camera-microscope, and see the hairs on a bee's knees. Yes, it really is the bee's knees.

The hands-on activities are particularly well thought-out.  Apart from interacting with the real, live invertebrates, there are opportunities to participate in craft sessions - draw, colour, cut, stick, make, decorate and produce your own wonderful butterflies, ladybirds and so on.  If your little ones are a little shy about getting too close to the bugs (and this is understandable, some bugs are easily five or six inches long and tend more towards creepy than crawly), then you can take time out and do some cutting and sticking.

And the second most amazing thing about Bug Day is the experts.  I'm always surprised - and I should have learned by now - that when you get people talking about something they're interested in, they will keep talking and talking about it.  People - and Bug People in particular - love sharing their knowledge about bugs that spread disease, bugs that eat crops, bugs that have eluded quarantine and eaten crops in other countries... These experts know how to make their subject appealing to a younger audience too, with gory details where appropriate, or how to scale it back for a very young audience and keep it simple.  

The experts come from a wide range of disciplines and some are from industry rather than education - they all get together and participate, they all talk fluent science and they're all very engaging.  Everybody has a slightly different angle - is it worms, is it bees, is it other larger creepy crawlies?  Is it ecological?  Habitats?  Microscopic?  There's far more to see and do here than you'd think from 'invertebrates'.  Everybody is delighted to talk about their particular niche, and absolutely nobody said, "You can't touch that," and when you're five or six years old, that's very important.

The favourite activities amongst our little people were looking at the leaf litter (finding insects in the dirt... I mean, show me a three-year-old who isn't up for that?) and investigating pond life with the oversized pipettes.  The experts are on hand to help you identify the creatures you discover, while the parents are standing close by to make sure that the pipettes, water and creatures stay where they're supposed to!  It is genuinely fascinating to look at the small water-borne insects, and my photographs do not do them justice - you have to see them for yourself. 

For older children and adults, there are informative lectures and presentations - these vary each year, but cover a wide range of topics.  I must confess that these were a little advanced for our children, and while we started listening, we soon realised that we were better placed among the more interactive activities (we left quietly and the lecturer was not at all offended).  This does show the range of activities that are available at the Bug Day, and how it very carefully and thoughtfully caters to all ages, abilities and interests (you don't even have to be a biologist to find the view down a microscope interesting).

There isn't much more to say:  Bug Day is excellent; suitable for all age ranges and interests, and is highly, highly recommended.