This is part of my Fifteen Minute Focus Series. Children learn about spiders, and do a craft that is great scissor practice.

Objective: Children can describe parts of a spider’s anatomy

Supplies and Prep

• plastic toys: one farm bird (chicken, turkey, whatever), one farm mammal (e.g. cow, sheep). Plus: one plastic insect and one plastic spider per child.
• White board and marker or paper and marker.
• TP rolls, one per child *
• scissors, markers
• Book?
• Optional extension: hula hoop with tape spider web,* black pompoms (see below!)

* Prep: On the TP rollls, draw 8 lines, halfway up each roll so the kids have guides for where to cut. Also, prep hula hoop – see info at the bottom of this port.

Animal Classification / Anatomy

How many legs? Show plastic chicken or other bird from past class – how many legs? show a farm mammal – how many legs? Pass out insects – have them count how many legs? Pass out spiders – count how many legs? (give them hints for how to remember which leg you started counting on so you don’t miss any or double count any.)

Body Parts: Draw an ant on the board. As you draw it, show how they have three body parts: head, thorax and abdomen. (You could explain that this is like a human’s head, chest, and abdomen/belly.) And 6 legs attached to their thorax. Then draw a spider, show how they have two body parts – the cephalothorax (head/chest) and abdomen. And 8 legs all attached to their cephalothorax. (Note: LOTS of toy spiders are not anatomically correct – make sure yours are, or else show the kids how the toy designer got it wrong.)

Optional: could say that insects have 5 eyes – two big ones and 3 little ones. Most spiders have 8 eyes (some 4, 6).

Spider Craft / Scissor Skils

I drew lines on the TP tube – 8 lines going about half the length of the tube, and told them to cut along the lines, and stop when the line stopped. Then I had them fold out the legs. Then we drew on faces (in the photo example, it shows 2 sticker eyes, but it’s better to have them draw 8 little circles for eyes.)

Songs

Any time you need them to re-focus, sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

When teaching anatomy, you could:

Sing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, pointing on the plastic person

Then sing the Insect Anatomy Song

Head, Thorax, Abdomen; [touch head, then chest, then belly]
Head, Thorax, Abdomen.
Six legs, some wings, and an exoskeleton. [Touch legs, back, and then sweep your hands around your body]
Head, Thorax, Abdomen

Then:

Cephalothorax, abdomen abdomen [touch head AND chest, then belly]
Cephalothorax, abdomen abdomen
8 legs, 8 eyes, and a web to spin [touch legs, point toward eyes, and spin finger]
Cephalothorax, abdomen abdomen

Optional Book

Then read a book – Aaaarrgghh Spider. (Amazon affiliate link.) (Preview video.)

Extension – Large Motor – Catch a Fly

Use a hula hoop. Tape on 8 spokes, all the tape facing one way. Then turn the hoop over and tape the spiral part of the web. When you hang it, hang it so the sticky side of the spiral is facing out, and the non-sticky side of the spokes. (This is like a real spider web – the spider walks back and forth on the not sticky spokes and the flies stick to the spirals.)

Hang the hoop up – kids throw pompoms at it (or cotton balls – they stick better)

If the pompom sticks you say “yay, the spider caught a fly”. If it doesn’t stick, you say “yay, the fly got away!” It’s a win either way.

Find more: Bug Themed Science for Kids.