Spiderweb Crafts for Kids – Halloween Activity

There are so many ways to go when it to comes Halloween crafts for kids to make, I was feeling a little overwhelmed at how to narrow it down into a post that made sense. So instead of trying to tackle all the possibilities, let’s just look at one: spiderwebs.

I know that doesn’t sound that interesting, but there are actually lots of fun ways to make spiderweb crafts.

There’s of course the classic craft stick spider web with yarn (Buggy and Buddy), or a yarn spider web made with an embroidery hoop (One Little Project). You can do the same thing with twigs and yarn (The Kitchen Table Classroom) for a more natural look. Bonus: get some glow in the dark yarn for these projects!

You can fold and cut a spiderweb in the style of a paper snowflake (One Little Project) or print out and punch a spiderweb template that gives kids practice with lacing and counting (PJs and Paint). Or use a paper plate with holes punched in the edge for kids to make a lacing spider web (Mom Endeavors). You can even make a handprint spider to go on it.

Speaking of paper plates, they’re a great medium for spider webs of all sorts, including this fun and easy crayon resist spiderweb (ABCDee Learning). Or you can do it on watercolor paper (Taming Little Monsters). Or try tape resist and watercolors or regular paint made small (Our Kid Things) or large (Busy Toddler). I love this one as collaborate classroom art, or something you can keep up in your art area at home for kids to come back to through the season.

You can make a spider web suncatcher out of tissue paper (Happy Toddler Playtime). Or try a spider web salt painting (Crafted with Bliss). I love this multicolored version.

And once you’ve crafted all these spider webs, you can try your hand at preserving a real spider web with these tips from Mad about Science. Because nature is art, too!

Spider Activities for Preschoolers

Roll and Count Game with Spiders

Itsy Bitsy Spider Finger Puppet

Handprint Spider

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?

Leave a Reply