REGINA, Sask. — The Royal Saskatchewan Museum is hosting Halloween activities, family art programs and a flesh-eating beetle display throughout October.
The Royal Saskatchewan Museum is inviting visitors of all ages to explore spooky exhibits and take part in family-friendly programming throughout October, including Halloween celebrations beneath Scotty, the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex.
The museum’s October lineup features a temporary display of flesh-eating dermestid beetles, a collaborative art activity with Dunlop Art Gallery and a Halloween event with dinosaur-themed stories, music and hands-on activities.
Flesh-eating beetle display
From Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, visitors can view dermestid beetles in a temporary display in the museum lobby.
The beetles are used by museum staff to clean animal skeletons, including those of birds and small mammals, for displays and research collections.
They remove soft tissue from skeletal remains without damaging the bones, eliminating the need for chemicals or other cleaning methods such as boiling or bleach.
Art activity invites visitors to draw spooky still lifes
On Oct. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the museum will partner with Dunlop Art Gallery to offer Drop-In Date Day with the Dunlop Art Gallery: Still Life Vignettes.
Participants can create memento mori drawings featuring taxidermy animals and other spooky objects from the museum’s collection. The activity will take place in the Learning Lab and is open to all ages and abilities, with materials provided.
Visitors can drop in at any time during the program. Children younger than 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
Halloween celebrations with Scotty
The museum’s Tricks, Treats & Roars: Halloween at the Museum event is scheduled for Oct. 31 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The morning begins with the Halloween BOO-gie, a program for children ages 3 to 6 running from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Children can enjoy a dinosaur-themed Halloween story and dance to Halloween songs beneath Scotty’s skeleton in the T. rex Gallery. No registration is required, and a Halloween treat will be available to take home.
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors of all ages can take part in additional drop-in activities, including a spooky scavenger hunt featuring snakes, bats and bugs, a Discovery Cart exploring bats, and mystery touch-and-feel boxes.
The Learning Lab will also feature animal X-rays, while visitors can get an up-close look at dermestid beetles in the lobby.
More information about exhibits, events and programming is available at royalsaskmuseum.ca.
