'Mantis on a Stick' Proves Popular at Bohart Museum of Entomology Open House

A Mantis on a Stick, complete with compound eyes and pipe cleaner antennae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

"A praying mantis on a stick?" you ask. 'Isn't the mantis the predator that grips its prey on its spiked forelegs? How do you get a mantis on a stick?"

Well, you cut a piece of paper to resemble a mantis head, draw its compound eyes, affix a popsicle stick to its mouth, add pipe cleaners for its antennae, and voila, there you have it, a "Mantis on a Stick."

That was the family arts-and-craft activity at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Praying Mantises," held last Sunday afternoon, Aug. 27. 

While scientists discussed mantises and showed specimens to the guests, youngsters headed over to the arts-and-crafts table. (Later they would engage with the scientists.)

Bohart intern Melody Ruiz, a third-year entomology major at UC Davis, staffed the arts-and-crafts table. She invited children, youths and adults to create a mantis. They could change the compound eyes to smiling eyes, sorry eyes,  frowning eyes, and other facial expressions. 

Soraya Qaqunah, 4, of Davis, looked at the box of crayons, selected her choices, and began to color the eyes. Her brother Elias Qaqunah and his friend each chose to turn a mantis head into a tarantula head after admiring the nearby Mr. Curly, the Tarantula. Elias decided his tarantula should be yawning. "How to you draw a yawn?" he asked. 

Meanwhile, Julietta Millsop, 3, of Davis, and Maya Lee, 4, of Woodland eagerly finished a Mantis on a Stick. 

Ruiz, who coordinates the arts-and-crafts activities at the Bohart Museum open houses with Tabatha Yang, the Bohart's education and outreach coordinator, delights in helping others and sharing her knowledge of insects. "I've always had a curiosity for insects as they play such a big part of the world we share," Ruiz said. "I love being able to talk about the wonders of entomology with anyone who visits the museum; it makes me happy being able to be connected to a memory of learning something new. Studying entomology allows me to work in an environment where you truly learn something new every day."

The Bohart's next two fall open houses are from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 and on Saturday, Nov. 4. The September open house is themed "Household Vampires." It will feature fleas, ticks and bed bugs. The November open house theme is "Monarchs."  It will showcase monarchs, milkweed, scientists and research. All open houses are free and family friendly.

The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. Professor and renowned entomologist Richard Bohart (1913-2007), a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) faculty for more than 50 years, founded the museum in 1946.