Insects are all around us, whether you like them or not! Insects play a major role in our lives when it comes to food production and the environment. The Mercer County Extension Agent for Horticulture started a new summer day camp called insect quest. This day camp was designed to teach youth about the importance of insects while at the same time gain the skills to properly identify insects for entomology projects for the county and state fair.

The camp was two full days with a month between each, this allowed student’s time to collect insects between camp days.  The first full day of camp students were taught the basics of insect identification through different games, puzzles and activities. After learning what makes and insect an insect, the Mercer County SNAP assistant reinforced this lesson at lunch time. Students created their own anatomically correct insects using fruits and vegetable. After lunch, students were taught how to catch insects, store them properly, and label them for identification. The day was wrapped up by visiting Shaker Village to sweep for insects for their collections.

The following month students returned with the insects they had captured. The second day of camp was dedicated to learning how to identify insects to order, how to pin insects, how to label, and how to prepare a collection for entry at the state fair. Our SNAP assistant joined us again for an insect themed lunch where we shared information on why pollinators are so important to our food system.  

Multiple children completed their collections and submitted them in county fair. The real success of this day camp was not the collections submitted, but that this day camp has led to the creation of a new 4H club. The horticulture agent now leads a monthly insect club. The club is dedicated to teaching the members the importance of insects in our environment, giving them the skills to work on entomology fair projects, and sparking their interest to have a career in an environmental or entomology field someday.