1-2-3 Come Do Some More Spider Activities With Me

With all of the spooky goings on in October, I thought it would be a fitting time to study spiders; using that as a theme to practice a variety of standards. 

With that in mind, I designed a "Speaking Of Spiders" packet, which provides a nice assortment of non-fiction spider activities and includes writing prompts, a mini-report, worksheets, a graph, plus a “flip the flap” craftivity.

I’ve included several pages of non-creepy spider facts.

Choose which ones are the most appropriate for your age group, then share them with your students.

Afterwards test their comprehension by asking them to complete a few fill-in-the-blank statements, or make up some “true or false” questions to answer orally, by simply referring to these fact pages.

Students also use this information to complete a variety of worksheets, some of which relate to knowing the difference between a fact and opinion. 

I’ve included black and white templates for students, as well as full color patterns, so that you can do some of these activities as a whole group, especially with younger children. 

The spiders "Can-Are-Have" flip the flap craftivity, is also an interesting way to check comprehension.

I've also included a one-page, graphic organizer that acts like a mini spider report.

There's a KWL worksheet to introduce and end your spider lesson with, which can be done individually or as a whole group.

I've also included a fun writing prompt about tarantulas as pets, with a real photograph to grab attention, plus a spider webbed paper to write on. 

Many of the completed worksheets make a nice spider-themed bulletin board.

I also use a spider to practice 2D shapes. My Y5s have really enjoyed making "Inky" the 2D shape "spider slider". (He's very busy eating them.) 

I’ve included templates if you want to pre-cut the circles, as well as patterns you can run off to have students trim their own.

There are also eye patterns with and without pupils, so students can add wiggle eyes with glue dots for that extra bit of 3D pizzazz, or they can draw their own.

To reinforce the fact that a spider is an arachnid and not an insect, we count the 8 legs and I remind students that insects have 6.

Accordion-folding the "legs" is not only fun for your students, but a great fine motor activity that will help strengthen their finger and hand muscles. I think it also adds that “finishing touch”

Choose the 2D shapes you want to review and print those sliders off. Children color, cut & glue the strips together.

The 2D shape options are the basic 5: circle, oval, triangle, square & rectangle, as well as options for a hexagon, pentagon, octagon, star, heart, trapezoid and rhombus.

There are sliders with the blank shapes, as well as patterns with a fly on each shape. My students like to pretend that the spider is slurping up the flies as we identify the various shapes.

The spider sliders also provide a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.

Finally, my students practice math skills, with this quick, easy and fun spiderweb game. 

PK children pick a partner, then take turns rolling ONE dice. Whatever number they roll, is how many web "sections" they color in. 

Older students practice their addition skills, by rolling a pair of dice, writing and solving the equation on the worksheet, then coloring that many sections of their web. 

For an additional math extension, students "guess-timate" how many sections are in the web, then record their answer along with how they figured that out on the worksheet provided.

Completed projects make a nice bulletin board, as each web is colorfully different.

I've included a "We're Caught in the Web Of Learning!" poster for the center of your display. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is a "Spin a Spider" 2D Shape Game.  Students take turns spinning.  Whatever shape they land on, they color or bingo dot the matching shaped spider on their web. 

 I've included a "match the spider shape to the shape word worksheet", which they can also complete using the spinner.  

A set of shapely spiders and their shape words are included in this packet, which you can use to make an Itty Bitty "trace & write" Spider Shape Booklet.

That's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. Time to put on my "Nana hat" as my grandchildren are coming over this afternoon.

Wishing you a love-filled and snuggly day. 

"Grandchildren fill a place in your heart that you didn't even know was empty." -Unknown