Simple Spider Craft for Kids

We are currently obsessed with all things SPIDER in my preschool classroom!

My preschoolers can just about recite Eric Carle’s, The Very Busy Spider from memory because we have read it so many times. They love helping me read it, and act exhausted as they help me read that the spider was “very busy spinning her web” throughout the story.

To go along with the story, we created our own super simple spider craft! After our 24 spiders (I have 2 classes) were complete, we wrapped the classroom door in white yarn to look like a spider web. The cute little spiders were taped up on the door all over the spider web.

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Simple Spider Craft

To make the spider you will need:

We used cake-size uncoated paper plates for the spider bodies. Make sure the paper plates are uncoated so that the paint sticks and dries to them.

I gave each preschooler 4 strips of black construction paper that were approximately 1 inch in width. Because we had learned that spider have 8 legs, we counted the ends of the strips of paper to get to 8. My preschoolers fan-folded the strips of paper the best they could. At age 3, just trying this skill was impressive. I even had a few who rocked the fan-folding!

The legs were glued on the back of the paper plates and put aside to dry a little.

Later that morning, my preschoolers painted their spider and added dots of glue for googly eyes. The spiders were then put on our drying rack until they were completely dry!

With my 3 year-olds in preschool, I am a huge fan of projects and crafts that do not take more than one day to complete. It’s no fun for me to insist that my preschoolers stop playing, pretending, socializing, spending time in our sensory or science area, or at one of our many learning centers throughout the classroom to come make only one part of a project. They are so little that simple, low prep crafts and activities are the way to go.

I also do not help with my preschoolers’ projects because their work is theirs. Where they place the glue is their choice. How their spider legs ended up on the back of the plate is their choice. These choices are meaningful to my preschoolers and when they bring something home, I want them all to be able to tell their mommies exactly how they created it. And to feel proud as they share their work with someone else.