Bug Fair 2025

Date
Saturday, May 17–Sunday, May 18 | 10 am–5 pm
Location
Tickets
Free with paid Museum admission and to Members
Members receive exclusive access from 9–10 am. Join today!
Over one million species. Only one Bug Fair.
Come to NHM on May 17 and 18 for the 39th annual Bug Fair, our two-day festival celebrating our bug-eyed and multi-legged friends! Experience up-close encounters with crawly creatures, learn all about the immense biodiversity of insects, get hands-on and crafty, and so much more! Also while you’re there, be sure to visit a variety of exhibitors who will be displaying and selling everything from exotic insect collections to amazing bug-related products.
#NHMLA #BugFair
Bug Fair 2025 Exhibitors
Visit a variety of exhibitors to see exotic insect collections and to purchase bug-related products, bugs for pinning, and live bugs as well!
Schedule of Events
Full program schedule coming soon!
Ongoing Programs
- Welcome Tables: Great location for all Bug Fair info!
- Bugtopia
- Coloring Station
- Butterfly Barrette Activity
Timed Programs/Activities
- 10:30 am & 11:30 am | Ocean Encounters: Dive into a prehistoric undersea adventure with our brand new, live performance starring life-size sea creature puppets. Join us as our amazing puppeteers and paleontologists bring these extinct animals to life. *Additional paid admission is required.
- 11 am–3 pm | Building Bug Tales: Not ready for a live bug pet? Museum educators will help you befriend a toy bug, personalize it, imagine its backstory, and snap photos in bug-sized scenery before taking it home to love forever.
- 11:15 am | Giant Bee: Thank you to the pollinators! Enjoy this giant bee puppet and its four puppeteers bringing it to flight!
- 1–5 pm | “A Real Bug’s Life” Screening: Inspired by the World of Disney and Pixar's “A Bug's Life,” this series from National Geographic, is an incredible adventure into different micro bug worlds around the globe. Enjoy a glimpse of season 2 of the show!
Stage Presentations
- 10:30 am | Lola and the Bees: Join Lola as she journeys first into the world of honeybees and then into the wider world of native bees. Based on a true story, this tiny but mighty puppet show with live music invites us to enjoy the magical and essential world and works of bees.
- 11:30 am and 1:30 pm | Curious About the Future of Food?: Join Aly Moore of Bugible for a tasty crash course in entomophagy — the practice of eating insects. Discover why bugs are a sustainable, protein-packed snack enjoyed around the world, and stick around to try a bite (if you dare)! Samples available while supplies last.
- 12:30 pm | Revenge of the Plants!: Not all plants are helpless victims. Learn about a group of curious plants that lure insects with sweet nectar only to devour them.
Museum Display Tables
- 9 am–5 pm | Museum Collections: Chat with members of our Entomology Collections department and learn about the bugs they study.
- 9 am–5 pm | Moorpark College's The Butterfly Project & SEEDS Chapter of ESA: We rear endangered butterflies for release to the wild & branch out further with our ecological efforts through SEEDS.