Trying to think of a weekend outing for yourself or your children? Consider visiting the Bohart Museum of Entomology, which has scheduled special hours on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The museum welcomes weekend visitors several times a year, for people who cannot get there during regular hours Tuesday through Friday. Admission is free during the week and for the weekend openings, too.

The museum’s hours Dec. 11 will be 1 to 4 p.m., according to a news release, which further stated that the museum that day will showcase the Diptera order (flies).

But you need not limit your visit to the flies. After all, the museum houses more than 7 million insect specimens from around the world. The collection, the seventh largest collection in North America, includes the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of California's Central Valley, as well as the mountains, coast and deserts.

Not all the museum’s critters are dead. A "petting zoo” features Madagascar hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, scorpions, a millipede and six kinds of walking sticks, including Vietnamese walking sticks and one that the Bohart staff has nicknamed "Avatar" (“It’s long, skinny and blue," said Professor Lynn Kimsey, museum director).

A gift shop offers t-shirts, sweatshirts, jewelry, note cards, books, posters and insect candy such as chocolate-covered ants and crickets and this visitor favorite: scorpions in lollipops.

“Many visitors purchase holiday gifts here," Kimsey said.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology is in 1124 Academic Surge. Regular hours: 8:30 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Closed on major holidays.

Read more about the Bohart's gift selection.

More information is available online or by contacting Tabatha Yang, (530) 752-9464 or tabyang@ucdavis.edu.