It may seem tough to get kids away from games and interested in learning these days, but Tony Lee thinks he has the answer: bugs.

Lee’s business, the Real Insect Company in Menlo Park, encases fumigated insects into Lucite acrylic resin for educational and even fashion purposes.

Lee started putting scorpions, ladybugs and other creepy-crawlers into the safe-to-handle cases to help get students interested in the natural sciences. He has been able to sell handcrafted products to nearly every school district in the state, the San Diego Zoo and even the New York Natural History Museum.

“Every time we go to schools to do presentations, we get that ‘wow’ look,” Lee said. “It gets them interested and away from video games and maybe into the library so they can look for themselves.”

Eventually Lee and his wife, Qing, began to make ant necklaces, spider bracelets and other bug jewelry. Their most popular seller is still the up-to-100-species educational display cases that they provide for preschool students all the way up to university scholars.

“Whether you like them or not, insects strike a chord with many people,” he said. “I get many reactions from people but most of them admire the beauty of nature.”

Someone who clearly sees this bug beauty is Lee, whose passion has always been entomology.

“I was very interested in insects as a child; this was a long time before they had video games,” he said. “We used to spend a lot of summer nights just catching fireflies and playing with insects.”

He also remembers his disappointing science classes as a kid when he had to examine dried out insects in dangerous glass cases. None of Real Insect’s bugs are dried out; as a result, they look the same in the resin as they would in the Southeast Asia rainforests from which most of them come.

The Lees raise half of their insects at a farm near their office and get the rest from a Chinese government fumigation program.

Other insects they use include tarantulas, silkworms, butterflies and honeybees. The business has also begun to encase plants and nautical species such as crabs inside the resin covering.

“It’s kind of a unique type of business,” he said. “We find that a lot of people are very interested in insects. This is one of the best ways to show them, primarily with children. Education is why we started the business and why we work so hard.”