Today Gracen and I did one of our favourite things… We had a little mama and babe crafternoon. A Halloween crafternoon to be exact!
This is by no means a new idea, and it’s nothing fancy, but it is something I’ve always enjoyed doing with my kindergarten students. It’s fun, messy, and personalized with wee little handprints. Perfect for Halloween cards for grandparents, teachers, or a special friend. Here’s a quick run down of how Gracen created this little masterpiece.
First, start off by drawing a large asterisk on a piece of black construction paper or card stock (we use a hand over hand technique for jobs like this).
Next, connect the tips of the asterisk with concave lines in order to create a web shape.
Then, cut out the web. (This is tricky for little hands. Gracen tried, but our poster board is was so thick that it was next to impossible for her… This may be more of an adult helper sort of job.)
Place a small roll of tape in the centre of your web.
Tape the web down in the centre of a box lid, baking pan, or plastic paper tray.
Next, put some white paint in a small bowl or container and plop a {very scuffed} golf ball, bouncy ball, or large marble inside. (While I find golf balls work best because they’re big and heavy, marbles and bouncy balls make a more solid, web-like lines.)
Shake and swirl the container so that the golf ball is well coated with paint.
Next, gently tip your golf ball out of the container and onto the web.
Swirl and roll the paint-coated ball over the black paper web by tipping the tray back and forth.
When it’s sufficiently spider web-y, remove the paper from the tray and set it aside to dry.
Now for the spider… Gather up some brightly coloured paper, black paint, and a foam brush.
Using a foam brush, paint a good, thick layer of black paint on your little one’s palm and fingers (not the thumb).
Help your little one press their hand on the paper a couple of times to create two spider bodies and half of the needed legs. Allow the prints to dry for a couple of minutes while you wash hands.
Next, rotate the page so that the fingers are pointed downwards.
This time around, paint just the four fingers of your little one’s hand. (I like to use the opposite hand for this part so that the fingers are angled the same way, but that’s just the crazy in me. ☺)
Stamp them on the other side of the palm print in order to complete the spider’s body.





I’m starting a binder of different crafts and activities to do with young children for when mine come along and if I care for other children. I recently babysat a 3 and 5 year old and all the kids wanted to do was play video games. They had little to no concept of playing make believe! I really want to avoid that. Not that they are not awesome kids by any means, but PB and I really value imagination.
Do you have any resources to share? This activity here is awesome, first one in the binder :)
What a great idea! I totally know what you mean about some kids not knowing how play make believe… I personally blame it partly on technology (not that I think all technology is bad), partly on preschools and kindergarten being so focused on academics nowadays, and partly on a general lack of old fashioned play. Too many toys today do all the playing for kids and all the kids have to do is sit back and watch them blink, flash, move, and make noise.
I am a huge fan of old-school toys that let kids get creative… Things like wooden building blocks, felt puppets, musical instruments, and dress-up items. I also think playing with play dough/slime/moon dough/sand/water and being given all kinds of materials to create with (without having a specific outcome in mind) is hugely important too.
As far as specific activities go, I would highly recommend sensory bins (you can see some of ours at https://mamapapabubba.com/tag/sensory-bin/ and dramatic play stations like this one – https://mamapapabubba.com/2012/09/21/play-dough-frozen-yogurt-shop-2/. There’s tons of other ideas in both my ‘child’s play’ and ‘get crafty’ categories, and you can browse both at these links:
https://mamapapabubba.com/category/get-crafty/
https://mamapapabubba.com/category/childs-play/
As far as resources go, I always turn to Pinterest. :) There are so many fabulous ideas out there, that it’s sometimes overwhelming, but if you have some time, you’ll always find something great to try. This board might be helpful: http://pinterest.com/jkossowan/toddler-activities/. The other place I find inspiration from is blogs. http://happyhooligans.ca is awesome, as is http://playathomemom3.blogspot.ca.
I hope this helps! Good luck with your binder. :)
I just made this with my 2 boys, 3 1/2 and 9 months. We love it.
Thanks!
Oh, I’m so glad, Lisa!
I’ll have to try this with my little guy tomorrow! I’d love for you to link this up to Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft: http://seevanessacraft.com/2012/10/tot-school-tuesday-felt-pumpkin-shapes-activity/
Let me know how it goes. :)
These are so cute, we are HUGE fans of spiders and must try these. Thank you for linking up to Tuesday Tots this week and just popping by to let you know that I’m featuring these over on Rainy Day Mum this week.
That’s awesome, Cerys! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Would you believe we did the exact same craft on Thursday! The post is all done up and scheduled tp publish next Sunday! Thought I should mention it in case you see it and think “Oh, those Happy Hooligans are such big copy-cats!” lol Mind you, your webs look MUCH more like webs than ours do!
Thank you so much for this idea, my son and I had a blast making pink-white-purple spiders, one having four, the other five eyes :)
My daughter is obsessed with spiders. Can’t wait to see how this goes with her!