What’s Halloween without a spider or some other creepy crawler popping up? Kids can learn all about insects on Saturday at Creepy Crawly Bug Day at the Albany Museum of Art.
 
The event, which is designed for toddlers through elementary school students, starts at 10 am and continues until 1 pm. The cost for children is $5 for AMA members and $7 for future members. Adults who accompany the youngsters get in free.
 
“It’s going to be creepy crawly fun for kids, the perfect thing to get them in the mood for Halloween parties and trick-or-treating” Annie Vanoteghem, director of education and public programming, said. “In fact, we hope the kids will come in costume, especially if it’s bug inspired.
 
“Spider-Man’s always a popular costume for Halloween. Maybe we’ll have a few friendly neighborhood web-slingers show up. We’ll also have a prize for the best costume!”
 
Creepy Crawly Bug Day is inspired by Michael Oliveri’s exhibition Fragments of a Violent World, which is currently showing in the AMA’s West Gallery. Oliveri makes use of powerful microscopes to take photos of insects, which take on the appearance of sculpture in his work.
 
On Saturday, youngsters will hear all about bugs, create creepy crawly crafts and see how these small creatures can become art.
 
While insects usually get a less than enthusiastic greeting from people, they’re a key component of the Earth’s ecosystem. The Smithsonian notes that there are 10 quintillion (That’s 19 zeros!) insects alive in the world at any time, and that the 900,000 different known kinds of insects comprise 80% of the world’s species.
 
In the United States alone, the Smithsonian notes there are 91,000 described species of insects, but an estimated 73,000 undescribed species. The largest numbers of described species in the U.S. fall into the four insect orders of Coleoptera (beetles) at 23,700, Diptera (flies) at 19,600, Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) at 17,500, and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at 11,500, according to the Smithsonian.
 
“Kids can learn interesting facts about bugs and then make art inspired by them,” Vanoteghem said. “It’ll be a fun Saturday program for everyone.”