The Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion is where you want to go if you want to a hands-on experience with fascinating critters.

By far, my favorite thing about this place is that it is very community-focused. Located in the middle of the residential Holmesburg section of Northeast Philly, my family’s guide was a local 4th grader. He spent 30 minutes teaching us about lizards and bugs, and demonstrated feeding a bearded dragon giant grubs. My nephews had a blast!

Later, another volunteer let us hold a snake, and then we walked through the butterfly pavilion, which is a large greenhouse full of tropical plants where butterflies float around and if you’re lucky, land on your shoulder.

The Philadelphia Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion is a modest operation without any fancy exhibits or futuristic displays. It’s just simple fun that both kids and adults will enjoy, and best of all it gets kids in the community involved in science and public education.