"Bug Squad" offers interactive experiences to learn about insects at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

A Chicago museum is allowing visitors to be like bugs — in ways much more fun and educational than when Gregor Samsa turned into a cockroach in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis."

"Bug Squad" is a new exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Kids can have a twirl on the Chrysalis Spinner, simulate the flight of a dragonfly in the Drone Cockpit, or leap like a grasshopper at the Giant Jumps Station with a one-person trampoline.

The museum said "Bug Squad" provides hands-on learning opportunities in a world inspired by fictitious superheroes and real science.

As documented by other museums that have hosted the exhibit, the superheroes include, among others, Phoebe the Lumineer, a lightning bug who can use her bioluminescence to navigate the dark or stun her enemies and who fronts a glow-in-the-dark drawing station; Miss Belle the bee, who fronts a building-block station and a "pollinator power" cannon; and Abbi "The Tiny Titan" the ant, who fronts a jungle gym.

"Bug Squad gives guests the opportunity to experience the fascinating world of insects through play," Erin Amico, president and chief executive officer of the Nature Museum, said in a news release. "By combining hands-on activities with STEM learning, the exhibit encourages curiosity while showing how even the smallest creatures play an important role in our environment."

The exhibit is supported by Rose Pest Solutions, which has a Bug Squad program to educate youngsters about insects, pollinators, and environmental sciences through interactive STEM experiences.

"Bug Squad" was created and produced by the Omaha Children's Museum. It opened at the Notebaert Nature Museum this past Saturday, and is included with museum admission.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences has its roots in Chicago's oldest museum, founded in 1857 and opened to the public in 1869. The Chicago Academy of Sciences was located for more than a century in the Matthew Laflin Memorial Building at Clark Street and Armitage Avenue — now administrative headquarters for the Lincoln Park Zoo —  before moving to its current space and taking on the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum name in 1999.

That current space is at 2430 N. Cannon Dr. in the park of Lincoln Park.