Inspect insects at farm Saturday

Afraid of creepy-crawlies?

Head out to McDonald Farm on Saturday and you may learn enough about a bug's life to overcome that fear.

The 60-acre south Naperville farm, headquarters of The Conservation Foundation, will host a family program called "Bugs!" -- the fourth in the foundation's Discovery Program series.

Venturing through the farm's prairie garden, farm field, wetland and lawn areas, visitors will see, collect, study and set free examples of insect life.

Naturalist Judy Fitchett, the foundation's education and outreach director, said participants likely will cross paths with crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, stink bugs, woolly bear caterpillars and spiders.

The Discovery Program series, which has included a summer firefly campfire and a winter animal tracking event, is the nonprofit organization's way of participating in a national "Leave No Child Inside" movement, Fitchett said.

"Children today are spending about half the time outdoors that their grandparents did," she said. "They see it as a dangerous place. They don't know how to be outdoors. They don't spend time outdoors. If they do get outdoors, it's not just for play."

Instead, she said, many children go outdoors only for organized activities.

"They don't know how to play," she said, adding that parents are often in the same predicament. "The parents need to learn the same thing."

Led by naturalists, visitors will find insects and spiders, identify them and build a cardboard-and-netting "bug house" where the animals will be temporarily housed in a bug zoo.

They'll learn how bugs decompose, how they pollinate plants and how the food chain works.

"Most (insects) are food for other animals," Fitchett said. "They're a main source of food, low down in the food chain."

The program also will offer bug games and snacks featuring so-called "bug juice."

Spiders and flying, stinging insects will not be handled, she said.

Fitchett said participants may wear insect repellent, but most bugs won't bother people.

"Most of them are quite harmless to humans," she said.

Fitchett said the program is probably best-suited for children 5 and older and their parents.

"It is intended to be a family thing," she said.

If you go

What: "Bugs!" a Discovery Program offered by The Conservation Foundation

When: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday

Where: McDonald Farm, 10S404 Knoch Knolls Road, Naperville

Cost: $15 per family; registration required

Info: (630) 428-4500, ext. 11, or www.theconservationfoundation.org