Greetings neighbors and visitors! The Insect Asylum is a safe and welcoming space for people of all walks of life to explore natural history in all of its splendor. Whether by appointment or just walking in. We are excited to provide a safe and sensory sensitive space for our neighbors to use their eyes, hands and hearts to fall in love with the wonders of our world. The Insect Asylum is proud to be a part of your next chapter in life and learning.

Click here for the link to get your tickets to our events

Our new location is at 2870 N Milwaukee Ave. Chicago IL, 60618

Saturday, August 6th 4-6pm

Beetle Pinning Class with Nina Salem

Create your very own pinned beetle specimens. Learn the delicate process of pinning and preserving one of the most fascinating beetles, the Western Hercules Beetle! Nina will take you step by step, and answer all questions you have along the way. All materials are included. You will be able to take your beautifully pinned beetle home with you at the end of the class.

The Hercules beetle is a species of rhinoceros beetle. It is native to the rainforests of Central America, South America, and the Lesser Antilles.

Fun Fact- It is the longest extant species of beetle in the world, and is also one of the largest flying insects in the world! -WOW!

Saturday, August 13th 1-3pm

Foraging 101

Join us for a night of foraging and education! Natalie, our wild food instructor, will go over the basics of foraging with us! We will get to learn how to forage safely as well as ethically. During this event, we will go on a plant walk around The Insect Asylum, and we can discover the wild food growing all around us. Best of all….You will get to try foraged food and beverages! This class will be $50 per person, $10 from every ticket sale will be donated to Honor the Earth!

Saturday, August 13th 6-9pm

The Insect Asylum Presents: Artist Talk and Live Painting

Sunday, August 14th 5-7pm

Terracotta Paint and Plant!

This special event will include all materials needed for the project, it includes admission to the museum, as well as staff on hand to help you any way! Like Bob Ross says, “there are no mistakes, just happy accidents.” This night is all about getting messy and creative!

Everyone will be provided 1-3inch terracotta pot, 1- plant with dirt, and community paint for all to share!

Saturday, August 20th 11am-12pm

Butterfly Pinning Workshop

Learn the delicate process of pinning and preserving one of the most admired insects. Each guest will pick their own specimen from our pre-hydrated butterfly chamber. You will be able to take their project home at the end of the class!

Sunday, August 21th 5-6pm

Wet Specimen Class

We will go through the defrost process, injections with formalin, jarring, and follow up instructions!

Wet specimen choices:

-Baby opposum

-baby chicks

-baby ducks

-baby rats

-babymice

-baby racoons

Please join us for this interactive learning experience!

Saturday, August 27th 4-5:30pm

Bees on the Block:

A Celebration of City Pollinators

The Insect Asylum is welcoming Chloé Markovits on August 27th from 4-5:30pm.

Chloé will be teaching us about native urban bees, she will be sharing the fascinating results of her research experiments, and offering tips for how to support Chicago’s pollinators in your own backyard.

Chloé is a rising senior studying Biology and Environmental Science at Tufts University. She has been conducting solitary bee research with the Crone lab for over two years and hopes to pursue insect ecology as a career. In her free time, she enjoys gardening with the Tufts Pollinator Initiative, making collages, and going on walks with her roommates and their cat.

Sunday, August 28th 1-2pm

Meet and Greet with Xena the Sloth and her Armadillo friend Fiona!

Xena, the 2-toed sloth will be back, visiting the museum, along with her will be her friend Fiona the armadillo!!!

You will have an up close and personal, one on one meeting with them, you will be able to pat them and pictures are encouraged!

The Insect Asylum is great for all ages and we will have different activities throughout the day to facilitate the fun. We are a hands-on exploratory exhibit so feel free to reach out and touch something new!