Central Lakes Learning Center Offering a Fun Way to Interact with Insects

Locals in the Brainerd Lakes Area will soon have a chance to learn about insects in a unique way. “Bug Bonanza” is a new traveling insect exhibit presented by the Central Lakes Learning Center in Brainerd.

The Central Lakes Learning Center’s “Bug Bonanza” is about allowing people to dig deeper into the world of insects.

“I think the ultimate goal of this exhibit is to give people an opportunity to explore, and it’s completely free,” said Central Lakes Learning Center founder Aryan Marxaney. “So we believe in making opportunities like this accessible.”

The bugs that are on display are ones that most people are probably familiar with. But with all the different ways you can interact with the crawlers at the exhibit, people can take away something new.

“We kind of allow kids the opportunity to investigate bugs and to do sort of mini experiments on bugs, which they might have not gotten a chance to do before,” Marxaney explained.

With these experiments, the public can see exactly how insects react to certain environments. The Learning Center believes that this interactive experience helps people retain information better as opposed to reading it on paper.

“Consider learning an instrument. Can you imagine learning the piano and just learning the theory? Can you can you imagine just playing the piano on a piece of paper and not even moving your fingers?” asked Marxaney. “You’d move this finger and that finger and this finger and that finger. You would never remember it and you would not feel motivated to learn at all because you’ve never actually gotten a chance to see the beauty of what you can create and the results of it.”

For everyone at the Learning Center, they’re proud to be able to offer this exhibit because it is something that is not readily available in this area.

“I know that when I was young, I used to go to, you know, science museums and art museums. And they’re such fond memories, and they’re memories that I’ll hold on to for as long as, you know, I can,” said Gemma Peterson, an art instructor at the Central Lakes Learning Center. “I think that giving that experience to kids in this area, I feel like a lot of the times you have to travel so far to get to see those things, you know, whether you’re traveling to Minneapolis or maybe you’re going all the way to Chicago. But you can see so many beautiful things right here in Brainerd. And I think it’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.”

The exhibit will be at the Team Ascension Martial Arts studio on Tuesday, Pequot Lakes High School on Wednesday, the Central Lakes Learning Center on Thursday, and Pequot Lakes Elementary on Friday.