Since it’s officially October, I’m jumping feet first into all of the fun “Halloween-esque” themes with my littles, and we’re kicking it off with spiders! Straight up- I don’t like spiders. They are one of the things I’m totally scream your head off and stand on a chair scared of (yes…I’ve literally done that before as a big ole hairy wolf spider ran across our floor…) but they are pretty interesting and SO integral to keeping the bug population at bay- so cheers to them I guess….just…stay outside…and don’t come near me! hahaha Don’t forget to swing on over to my toddler post Aaaaahhh! Spiders! for more fun activities featuring our 8 legged friends, like fizzy webs and a build a spider playdough activity.
–Literacy:
-Itsty bitsy spider song: This week, we added the classic song “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” to our daily calendar time. Each day we sang it while I pointed to each word to build knowledge on the direction of text and the “return swoop” to the next line, as well as sight word recognition. If you don’t know the tune, you can just say it together!
-Magnetic spider web letter practice: This was so much fun and both of my boys were totally into it! I made a spider web out of washi tape on our washing machine (our kitchen appliances aren’t magnetic- but if yours are, that would work too!) Then I had my little pretend our ABC magnets were flies getting caught in the web. I had him identify each letter as it got caught to work on letter recognition! I got this idea from the early literacy blog, Growing Book by Book!
-Spider letter hunt: I made a spider web by taping two overlapping Xs across the top of a box. Then I wove the circular part of the web by tying a piece of string to one of the base lines, and twirling the yarn around each base line as I went in a circle (if that makes sense!) Then I poured our magnet ABCs and plastic spiders in the box and had my little get the ABCs out with tongs (so the spiders wouldn’t bite him of course! hahaha). We identified each letter as he pulled it out. I got this idea from Pocket of Preschool!
-Swat the spider letter practice: I placed 5 ABC flashcards on the floor, then called out a letter at a time and had my little hit it with a fly swatter, then replaced the letter with a new one until we ran out. LoL I got this idea from Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten! My little was aaaall about the fly swatter- I just had to watch my hands so I didn’t catch it!
-Book list: Here are the spider books we read this week- my favorite was “I’m Trying to Love Spiders“…it was a really fun interactive read aloud that also gave spider facts- I just added it to our home library since the kids and I enjoyed it so much!
–Math:
-Sticky spider adding practice: I got the sticky web idea for my toddler from Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten and thought it would be a fun way to practice adding within 10 with my preschooler. You make the web by drawing it with sharpie on the non-sticky side of contact paper (I actually used my Silhouette vinyl transfer paper since I had it on hand for all of you fellow crafty mamas out there!) Then I taped it sticky side out to our sliding door. Next, I printed an adding page (any page will do, but here’s a freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers) then had my little identify the first number, add that many spiders to the left side of the web, then identify the second number and add that many spiders to the second side of the web. Then he counted them up to get his total!
-Spider finger print number recognition: I printed this spider web book of numbers from Teachers Pay Teachers (for free of course!) Then I had my little identify each number and make finger print spiders to match the number.
-Spider web counting: I strung up some fake spider web across our dining room chairs (which you can get pretty much anywhere for about $1.50 right now) and placed 12 spiders in it. Then I had my little remove and count the spiders by putting them in an egg crate (I MEAN spider cage!) that I had numbered 1-12. I got my inspiration from A Dab of Glue Will Do.
-Greater/less than spider counting: I had my little roll a 10 sided dice, identify the number, then count out that many spiders. I did the same, then we compared to see whose number was greater.
–Science:
-Spider diagram craft: My little built a spider by cutting out the abdomen and chest-head (that I had drawn for him on black construction paper) and gluing them to another sheet of construction paper. Then he glued on 8 eyes, I hot glued on 8 legs, then we labeled each part accordingly!
-Spider life cycle: I printed out this spider life cycle worksheet for free on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then we read the information about a spider’s lifecycle, and my little carefully cut out the stages from the bottom of the page. I read them for him and he told me the correct order they went in and glued them down.
-Spider web vibration experiment: So for this one, I just used the web I made for the ABC spider activity above. I had my little place his hand on the web and I plucked it a bit and asked him what he noticed. Then we talked about how spiders use the vibrations on their web created by bugs to know it’s dinner time! I got this idea from Buggy and Buddy– who made a very epic web in their dining room!
-Story and spider facts: We read “The Magic School Bus Gets Caught in a Web” then made a foldable graphic organizer by folding a sheet of paper in half length-wise, then in half again width-wise and tracing the fold lines. I had my little tell me 4 spider facts after we read the story, and I wrote them down for him.
–Art:
-Spider hat: I used to make these with my class during Halloween and they always come out so cute and funny! I drew some cutting lines on two sheets of black construction paper and had my little cut them out so that he had two strips for the head band, and 8 for the legs. I stapled the headband strips together, then he counted out and glued 8 googly eyes on it. When the eyes were dry, I stapled the headband in a circle to fit his head, then he taped on the legs and voila! Spider hat!
-Spider web plate threading: I cut a hole in the center of a paper plate then punched holes around the outside. I tied a long piece of yarn to one of the holes and taped the other end so it would be easier to thread. Then I had my little thread across the circle until the yarn was used up to make his own “web”! I got this idea from The Best Ideas for Kids!
–Supply/shopping list:
- “Magic School Bus Gets Caught in a Web”
- magnet ABCs
- washi tape
- fly swatter
- ABC flashcards
- plastic spiders
- ink pad/black paint
- 10 sided dice
- egg crate
- fake spider web
- contact paper or vinyl transfer paper
- googly eyes
- tongs
- yarn
- paper plate
- hole punch
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