Spider Crafts, Science Lessons, Activities, Games, and Printables for Preschool and Kindergarten. SPECTACULAR SPIDERS. Spiders are much more than just small, eight-legged, eight-eyed creatures that spin webs. Did you know that some spiders don't even spin webs? Learn about spiders, play spider games, learn with spider activities and lessons, sing a spider song, eat a "spider" snack, and create a spider craft. The Little Miss Muffet rhyme and activities, the itsy bitsy spider, and of course, Halloween, are a great time to learn about this very helpful creature.
Language activity
Tell a riddle:
I am an animal;
I have eight legs;
I cannot fly,
but I can spin a web.
Who am I?
Spider Craft Cut an egg carton into little cup sections. Paint egg carton cup with black paint. Let it dry. Using an awl or screwdriver, make eight holes in the bottom edge of the egg carton cup for the spider's leg. Cut some chenille stems into small pieces. Push a chenille stem in one side of the cup and out the opposite side and bend the leg. Repeat to make the other legs. Glue a pom-pom on top of egg carton cup. Glue on wiggle eyes.
Spider Craft and Activities
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Recite the "Little Miss Muffet" rhyme with felt puppets:
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
who sat down beside her,
and frightened Miss Muffet away.
Ask children about their experiences with spiders. Do they like them or not? Look at different pictures of spiders. Discuss how spiders look, what they do, and why children are or are not afraid of them. Explain that spiders have eight eyes but cannot see very well. Most of them are very small and not dangerous. They help us by eating insects that we may not want to have around.
Science: Go outside to find a spider web. Look at different pictures of spiders. Spiders are not insects. Spiders are arachnids. Insects have three body parts and six legs, whereas spiders have eight legs and two body parts, the abdomen and the thorax. Most insects have wings but spiders don't.
Spiders
By Janet Bruno
Spiderlings hatch from eggs.
Each one has eight tiny legs.
A spider has more eyes than you.
Most have eight, you have two.
A spider has two body parts.
Across its web it quickly darts.
From a spider's spinnerets
Sticky spider silky jets.
Spiders feel the frantic tugs,
Of their favorite food: it's bugs!
Children sit in a circle. Hold the end of a ball of white yarn in your hand. Hand the ball of yarn to a child and call out the name of a child that sits slightly accross from you. The child with the yarn needs to walk to the child by letting out yarn as he/she goes. The child hands the ball of yarn to the child and sits down on the child's seat holding on to the yarn. Call out the name of another child that sits across from the child. Repeat. When the spider web is finished and all children are holding on to the web, let children place the web on the floor.
Spin, spin, spin a web,
Round and round we go.
Up and down and all around,
Weaving to and fro!
Recite the rhyme and choose one child to start and call in a friend at the appropriate time. When four children are crawling around the web, choose a fifth child to be the spider, who then crawls in and eats them up.
Four LIttle Bugs
One little bug went out to play,
On a spider’s web one day.
He had ever so much fun,
He called for another bug to come.
Two little bugs went out to play,
On a spider’s web one day.
They had ever so much fun,
They called for another bug to come.
Three little bugs went out to play,
On a spider’s web one day.
They had ever so much fun,
They called for another bug to come.
Four little bugs went out to play,
On a spider’s web one day.
They got stuck, all in a bunch.
And along came spider, in time for lunch!
Jean Warren
More great spider rhymes and songs from Jean Warren.
Music and Movement:
Sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" with movements.
The itsy, bitsy spider,
climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain
and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun
and dried up all the rain,
So the itsy, bitsy spider
went up the spout again.
Listen to the song and view a cute animation.
Have a child walk around quietly like a spider to some music. The rest of the class has their eyes closed and heads down. When the music stops, the spider hides somewhere close. Choose a child to walk around to see if she/he sees a spider moving.