The Itsy Bitsy Spider: Paper Spider for Elementary School Children

The Itsy Bitsy Spider: Paper Spider For Elementary School

Suggested Grades: K-2
Activity Time: 30-50 Minutes

This instructable will tell you how you can help your students or kiddos at home create their very own spider!

Step 1: Materials Needed

Materials Needed:

White School Glue
Crayons (I suggest crayola)
Scissors
Two Sheet of 12" x 18" Black Construction Paper
One Sheet of 8" X 10" Black Construction Paper
One Sheet 8" X 10" White Paper (optional)
2-8 Google eyes (optional)

Step 2: Draw and Oval/Egg

On one sheet of the 12" x 18" Black Construction Paper have students draw a large oval or egg shape using a yellow, orange, or white crayon.

Have them write their name inside the shape.

Remind them to use as much of the paper as possible, they want a bit spider body.

On the one sheet of One Sheet of 8" X 10" Black Construction Paper have students draw a large circle using a yellow, orange, or white crayon.

Have them write their name inside the shape

Step 3: Cut Those Puppies Out!

My students always laugh when I tell them it's time to cut those puppies out, they want to know why I call everything puppies....oh kids.

One they have their shapes cut out have them throw away their scraps.  I have buckets for all my tables that I sit in the middle and the throw away theirs scraps in the middle, then when we clean up one individual from the table dumps the bucket in the trash can.  It saves a lot of mess on the floor.

Remind students that scissors tend to be sharpest at the very back.  I liken scissors to alligators that are really hungry they want to open up their mouths really wides to eat that paper.  This also helps them control the cut much better.

Step 4: Time for Glue!

I apologize this is a lousy picture, I forgot to take one as I was working.

Tell students to turn over their large egg/oval shape so their name is on the bottom. 

Have them take the circle of their head with their name facing them and put three drops of glue in a row, and three more drops below this.  (six in all)  Remind them: "Dot Dot Not A Lot"  I remind them their glue dot should be between the size of an apple seed to a corn kernel.  These are items children are used to seeing (often on school lunch trays) so it gives them a good idea on how large their glu dots should be.

Tell them to put their head glue side down on their spiders body.

At this point you can have kids use their crayons to decorate the back, or you can do this later.  When I did this with my students I realized later was better so we could get the legs on.  It helps the kids focus on getting their eight legs done because they know they can decorate when they are done.

Step 5: Put Your Right Legs In....

Ask the kids how many legs spiders have, most know.  When you get the right answer (8 if you have been lucky enough to never see a spider in your life) ask how many are on each side.  Interestingly enough many young kids don't realize a spider can be symmetrical so you will have to tell them (and throw out that term)

Now you have a couple of choices.  You can pre-cut legs with a paper cutter, or you can have the kids take that second 12" x 18" Black Construction Paper and cut eight legs out.  I'm going to highly suggest pre-cutting.

You can have the kids accordion fold the legs before gluing them on or glue first then accordion fold.  I tried this both ways, I found that gluing first then folding worked better for my students.  (I was working with kindergarten)

Step 6: Accordion Fold

The accordion fold isn't the easiest for young students.  You will need to demo that back and forth action.  I did this project with my kindergarteners and I only have them in the art room for 30 mins.  If I had longer, I would have continued to have them accordion fold then glue, but because of time restraints it worked much better to have them glue legs on then fold, but that isn't as easy for them with their fine motor skills.

Step 7: The EYES Have It!

Spiders have various numbers of eyes.  One website I read said the most common numbers of eyes are 8, 6, and zero....wild.

Depending on the time you have, kids can cut these out of that white sheet of paper I suggested and use their scrap black for the pupil, they can use google eyes for all or part of them (kids love these things), or they can draw their eyes on.

I gave the three options and all three went on in the room.

Step 8: And You Are Done!

Well done you made a spider!

You could hole punch the back of the spider and string it up, which could be a fun Halloween decoration.  They also hang nicely taped to walls.

Step 9: POOFRABBIT'S TIPS AND TRICKS!

POOFRABBIT'S TIPS AND TRICKS!

When Gluing: "Dot Dot Not A Lot"  I remind them their glue dot should be between the size of an apple seed to a corn kernel.  These are items children are used to seeing (often on school lunch trays) so it gives them a good idea on how large their glue dots should be.

Using Scissors: Remind students that scissors tend to be sharpest at the very back.  I liken scissors to alligators that are really hungry they want to open up their mouths really wides to eat that paper.  This also helps them control the cut much better.  It is also a great idea to show them that their non dominant hand controls the paper and should be the only thing turning. 

Using Names To help with Directions:  I have a tendency to forget to have kid put names on their art, we are humming along when it hits me DUH!  NAMES!  I have found if I have them put their names on as part of a step not only do we get names on paper but I can use it to help with directions.  In this project we hide the crayon marks we made on the back by having our names on as well, it also helps kids know where to put their glue dots.