Current Volunteering Opportunities
The Office of Education & Outreach welcomes energetic volunteers to share their skill, experience, insight, enthusiasm, creativity, and passion for natural history with Museum visitors. To apply to Volunteer, please complete the Volunteer Application form from any of the Opportunity links below, or at right.
Please complete all of the information so the Volunteer Program Manager may match your attributes and interests to the needs of the Education & Outreach office and the various areas of the museum.
Discovery Room
Are you interested in anthropology, biology, and mineral sciences? Do you like working with children and families in an interactive and dynamic setting? Consider volunteering in the Discovery Room!
The Discovery Room is a hands-on space geared to families with children who want to explore the natural world at their own pace guided by their own interests. Volunteers guide children and families through activities, help them find answers to their questions and encourage their curiosity. Weekday and weekend opportunities are available in the morning and afternoon.
Want to know more about this opportunity? Read about a current volunteer's Dicovery Room experience.
Orkin Insect Zoo
Do you have an affinity for crawling, flying and small buzzing creatures? Want to get up close and personal with some of the museum’s most popular subjects? The Insect Zoo is the place for you!
The Insect Zoo is a unique living, breathing, crawling, squirming exhibition where visitors can learn about the bugs they know and some they don’t. The exhibit is a special environment that is carefully controlled and monitored to ensure the best conditions for the insects, and provides hands-on experiences and observation of some of the most incredible - and the smallest - 'things' on display.
Enthusiastic, outgoing and gentle Volunteers are needed to help visitors discover the amazing world of insects, spiders and their many-legged relatives. Insect Zoo Volunteers answer questions, guide visitors through demonstrations, handle live insects and perform Tarantula feedings for Museum visitors! If you are more fascinated than frightened of some of the world’s smallest yet most interesting specimens, you’ll feel right at home in the Insect Zoo.
Butterfly Pavilion
Are you fond of fluttering, delicate winged beauties that were once fuzzy caterpillars? Do you enjoy tropical settings and lush greenery? As a Volunteer, the Butterfly Pavilion makes for great scenery! In the Butterfly Pavilion, Museum visitors walk among living tropical and temperate butterflies and plants and learn how they have co-evolved over millions of years through research by Smithsonian scientists on the topic of co-evolution.
Butterfly Pavilion Volunteers help visitors discover the amazing natural history of butterflies and plants, and they help maintain the safety of visitors and of the butterflies. Volunteers answer visitor questions; help to enforce Pavilion policies, handle live insects, give scheduled demonstrations for museum visitors, and assist exhibit staff with other activities. If you’re a fan of insects that flutter by, become a friend of the Butterfly!
Special requirements:
- Able to tolerate moderately high temperatures and high humidity
- Have a willingness and ability to be firm in enforcing Butterfly Pavilion policies (timed admission to the exhibit, checking visitors’ clothing for butterflies before they exit, etc.)