Kids from all over DeKalb and Sycamore dressed up Saturday and visited the Midwest Museum of Natural History for its Creepy, Crawly Halloween Party.

The Midwest Museum of Natural History, 425 W. State St. in Sycamore, played host to various activities, animals, games and exhibits for both parents and children. Among the activities were a “grossology” lab, microscope inspections, a tarantula exhibit and various Halloween-themed games.

“My favorite part is the grossology lab; it’s great to see kids get so excited about science and nature at such a young age,” said Executive Director Molly Trickey. “We have a lot of live animals here at the museum and they are mostly animals people associate with Halloween, so it was a natural fit.”

The grossology lab offered participants the opportunity to dissect owl pellets and see volunteers dissect a shark and a garter snake. Attendees could also view a variety of slides under a microscope, including slides that showed fish tank water, a zebra tail, ball python skin and a guinea fowl feather.

There was also an activity called “poo modeling” where children could take modeling clay and make their own lifelike animal scat. Participants could also make spiders out of craft materials at a table sponsored by Michaels.

This was the museum’s second time hosting the event, which is almost entirely run by volunteers, Trickey said.

Some of those volunteers were from NIU sorority Sigma Lambda Sigma, including Megan Graf, junior elementary education major.

“These events are really fun,” Graf said. “It’s great to work with the kids and we always have a good time here.”

The event played host to a variety of spiders, too. The spiders’ owners, Art and Kathleen Schamne, volunteered to help out at the event.

“I’ve always enjoyed spiders and they are very easy to care for. I have about 140 tarantulas,” said Art Schamne. “I figured that I’m not going to make a spider owner out of everyone, but I want to make people realize they are necessary for the environment and aren’t out to get you.”

The museum’s exhibits were also included in the party, as a lion and lioness from the museum were dressed in Halloween garb. The exhibits were the educational focus of the event, as each animal and exhibit had a printed list of facts nearby. Event participants had the opportunity to interact with some of the museum’s exhibits and could have their picture taken with various live snakes and turtles.

Games for both parents and children were hosted throughout the event. The games included pumpkin bowling, spider flinging and an informative feeding frenzy game.

Children of all ages were welcome, and trick or treat candy was distributed during the party.