Spider Crafts for Kids

Spiders are amazing all year, but we generally only make spider crafts during Halloween season. Whatever time of year it is when you read this, it’s always a good time to remember that spiders (generally) aren’t scary! Let’s take a look at some fun spider crafts for kids.

A cardboard tube and pipe cleaner spider is a classic, and this one from Creative Family Fun is a good one. Other than painting the tube it’s a pretty quick craft, too, and even little kids can help make it.

Use a tube or make your own out paper to add to this printable spiderweb scene from Krokotak. This is such an easy one but kids will have fun building a scene around their spiders.

Or how about a pompom spider? This idea from Easy Peasy and Fun uses pipe cleaners and a black pompom to make the spider, and has the added (cute!) aspect of a spider web made on an embroidery hoop.

You can also make an easy spider out of a paper cup, like this one from Raise Curious Kids. Thriving Parenting has a similar one that has lots more eyes if that’s something your kids will enjoy (it definitely ups the creepy factor!).

Or give your spider a 3-D look with paper with this idea from Arty Crafty Kids that includes a printable template for making the head and the back pieces.

If your kids love “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” they’re going to love making this climbing spider craft from Mom Brite. There’s even a lesson in friction in here, so you can turn craft time into science time as well.

Make a printable paper spider that kids can decorate and assemble with this free template from Learn Create Love. This way kids can decorate their spiders any way they want, get cutting and assembly practice and they can put their spider in a scene they draw or paint, too. So much fun!

Did you know that October is Squirrel Awareness Month? I didn’t know we needed more awareness of these little creatures, but let’s take it as a sign to learn more about squirrels!

Let’s start with some fun facts via Kids Konnect: did you know there are five subfamilies and more that 280 species of squirrels? The smallest are pygmy squirrels and the largest, the Bhutan giant flying squirrel, can be longer that 4 feet (1.2 meters).

Tree squirrels can climb down trees so fast because their ankles can rotate 180 degrees, allowing them to grab the tree bark as they go down. While most squirrels don’t survive their first year of life, they can live five to 10 years in the wild and squirrels have been known to live up to 20 years in captivity!

Rhythms of Play has more fun facts and tips for observing squirrels if you want to add some real life nature to your nature study.

We always like to start these collections with life cycle and parts of the animal printables, so let’s grab the squirrel life cycle an parts of a squirrel worksheets from Montessori Nature. (It doesn’t look like these are free any more but they have a whole unit study on squirrels you can buy that includes life cycle and parts activities, characteristics of different kinds of squirrels, a printable poster, information about predators and more.)

Grab the squirrel lapbook printable (free with email address) from Homeschool Share to learn the parts of a squirrel, where they live, what they eat, whether they hibernate and more. There’s also a nut taste test printable, a place for making observations about squirrels, life cycle of an oak tree, games and more.

Simple Everyday Mom has some cute squirrel themed worksheets including tracing the letter s, labeling the parts of a squirrel and a letter s maze. She also has more activity pages with a squirrel theme, including matching, a more traditional maze and a counting and graphing activity.

Work on letter recognition with this squirrel and acorn game printable from Teaching Mama. I love the idea of hiding the letters in a fall themed sensory bin for kids to find, identify and match to the letter on the worksheet.

For older kids you can do this “if I were a squirrel” writing prompt from Lesson Planet.

And throw in a little counting with these squirrel and acorn tens frame printables from JDaniel4’s Mom, which you can use to count real acorns or any other little fall themed thing you have handy.

Have you read?

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