Spider Season

Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Spider season in your area is a great time to go outside on a spider hunting expedition.  Take magnifiers, clipboards with paper and pencil and a digital camera.  Children can look at the (nonpoisonous and non-jumping) spiders up close, and then make a life drawing of one (doesn’t have to be accurate).
  • Go inside and discuss what you have seen.  Read a book, discuss body parts and web making, egg laying and food.
  • Spiders are not insects.  Describe the major differences large simple diagrams to illustrate your point

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​Spiders are living animals.  They are not insects.  Spiders are arachnids, with 2 body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen), 8 eyes and 8 legs.
  • Many spiders spin webs to help them capture food (insects) to eat, to stay alive.  The web substance is extruded from the spider’s body, and is sticky.  I wonder why spiders don’t stick to their own webs?

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​​Be a spider and spin a web - wind a ball of over and under furniture around the room
  • Sensory box with natural items such as leaves, grass, rocks, small branches and some model spiders.
  • Draw a directed “scientific drawing” of a spider – even 3 yr olds can do this.  Teacher labels.
  • Make a spider hat – this is a black headband, with 4 legs stapled on each side, and 8 red circle eyes glued on the front.  Over 4s can use zigzag folding for the legs, and the younger ones can curl and fold them any way they want.
  • Categorize animals that are insects and animals that are spiders. 

Activity Packs and Printables

Spider alphabet
Spider alphabet. $2.50
Preschool theme unit about spiders.
Preschool theme unit about spiders. $3.75
Spiders printables for preK and K. 68 pgs.
Spiders printables for preK and K. 68 pgs. $5.50
Spider emergent reader plus activities.
Spider emergent reader plus activities. $3.00
Picture
Spider and flies quick counting center. $2.50
Picture
Large spider numbers to 20. Free.
Picture
Matching sipder sets to number webs to 10. Free.

Websites

www.halloweencostumes.com/spooky-spiders-spider-facts.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Info/Construction_of_a_web.html
http://entomology.unl.edu/images/spiders/spiders1 (photos)
​Spiders theme activities and printables

Books

I Love Spiders by Parker
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
The Itsy-Bitsy Spider by Ida Trapani
Spiders Lunch by Joanna Cole
Spiders by Gail Gibbons