Design a Spider

We've been learning about spiders this week and yesterday the kids designed their own spider. I set out trays of materials and we talked about what makes spiders unique while the kids created their own spider.  

My favorite supply was one I kept secret until they were finished... a spider has?  Fangs!  I gave them each a set of vampire teeth!

Our Supplies

white lunch bags for the main head/body 

chenille stems for legs

googly eyes

paint/paintbrushes, tape, glue, paper towels

The kids started by painting a lunch bag with acrylic paints (we found it easiest if the bag was open).  Paint the entire outside of the bag, including the bottom.  To dry them, I turned them upside down over some water bottles.  While they dried we read, "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle and had a snack of chocolate chip cookies and milk. 

Once the bags were dry, the kids balled up a couple of paper towels (you could use recycled newspaper or paper, but we used a roll of very cheap paper towels) and stuffed them in the bottom of the bag.  I helped them twist one chenille stem around the bag to form the two parts of the spider (cephalothorax and abdomen).  Then they stuff a couple more paper towels in the rest of the bag.  We folded the open ends down and used tape to seal it closed.  

The kids cut the chenille stems in half and poked them in the bag.  We didn't glue them in place, but they seem to be staying.  Their favorite part was picking out 8 googly eyes to use!  Little J wanted his spider in his room, but we put a spring on the back of Juiciness and Sassyfras's spiders to hang them from the dining room light.  

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Linking to:  Sharing Saturday, Sunday Showcase, TGIF!, Saturday Show and Tell, For the Kids Friday, Weekly Kids Co-op, Montessori Monday, Red Ted Art's Blog, It's Playtime!