Spiders and Shapes

A rainy day in October, which we've had a lot of lately, is a great time to focus on the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" activities.  Start by singing the song together with your preschooler.  Then, use the reproducible below to make a puppet to enjoy while you sing the song.  Toddlers will love this activity too!
Spider Puppet
I've also included a few other spider activity sheets from The Mailbox that are a lot of fun.
Spider Squarest
Spider Spout

More Spider Activities:

Spider Prints

Cut eight slits in one end of a paper-towel roll and spread the strips out flat.  Dip the cut end of the paper-towel roll into a shallow dish of black or brown tempera paint and then use it to make spider prints on construction paper.

Spider Web
If you have a group (3-4 players) of older preschoolers you can play the spider web game.  Simply form your group in a circle and toss a ball of yarn or string to different players to create a unique spider web.  You may choose to allow children to act as the spider one at a time on the web.  It's fun and promotes motor skill development trying to weave through the stringy web!  You will just need an extra hand or two to hold up the web as one player crawls through.  Have fun!

Spider Spy
In the fall, you'll notice more spiders spinning around so go on a walk in the yard to notice all the webs and different spiders.  Just don't get too close, they do bite!  Use words like creepy, crawly, wiggly, and sticky to describe the spider and its web.  Describe how the spider spins his web to catch bugs to eat.  The spiders help us to catch bugs that "bug" us.  "Thank you, spiders!"

Additional Resources:

You can join The Mailbox magazines website to receive more downloadables for free.  You won't get all the benefits of the full magazine subscription, but they have quite a few activities for each month including a bonus unit.  I love, love, love The Mailbox magazine!  The website is:  http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/af/home.do