Spiders

Mrs. Smith
Oct 27, 2019
3 min read

Spiders are exciting to learn about all year round - especially during halloween! The more children (and adults) know about spiders, the more they will understand the many benefits that spiders provide. Plus, there are so many fun and inviting spider activities that enrich student learning!

Spiders' Body

We began the week by talking about spiders' bodies. Spiders live all over the world and even though there are thousands of different kinds of spiders, they all have the same shaped body! They can be big or small, but they all have 8 legs. A spider's body is split into two parts: the head and the abdomen. On the head are its legs, fangs and two palpi. Palpi help the spider taste and feel. On the abdomen are spinnerets, which make silk for spinning webs. Some questions to ask your Pre-K kiddo: How many legs does a spider have? What do spinnerets do? How many eyes does a spider have? How do spiders eat their food?

Spider Web Marble Art

The kiddos made super cool spider web designs using a large box, paint, paper and marbles! We began by dropping the marbles in white paint, then scooped them out with a spoon, dropped them onto black paper, and then tilted the box from side to side so that the marbles would roll all over the paper. Once the kiddos had the design they liked they removed the paper and we let it dry.

Paper Plate Spider Craft

Spider Ring Counting Game

Counting is an important skill for preschoolers. As they count objects, they begin to understand that the number they are saying (three) means a group of a certain quantity (three objects). They must grasp the meaning of quantity before they can understand that the symbols (numerals) mean that quantity. As children count, they can learn that to get the correct quantity, they must say one number per object, without skipping objects or counting an object twice. (This is one-to-one correspondence.) So much math learning and development is happening when children count objects. This week during math centers we invited the children to play a spider ring counting game. To play the game the children were asked to roll the dice, count the dots, and then count the corresponding number of spiders, sliding them onto the straw.

Kinetic Sand Spiders

Kinetic sand is a great material to use to work on fine motor skills. This week we used kinetic sand, black pipe cleaners and googly eyes to make spiders!

Watercolor Resist Spider Web Art

This week the kiddos created watercolor resist spider webs using a white oil pastel on white card stock (teacher) and then designed watercolor art over it (students). During the process the kids could see the resist technique from the white oil pastel underneath. While we waited for the watercolor paint to dry the kiddos practiced using scissors to cut out two black circles to create a spider's head and abdomen. Finally, the kiddos glued the 2 black circles and 8 pieces of yarn on the body to create a spider!