Today at Bright Minds we focused on spiders. Our key concepts included the fact that spiders are not insects {they eat often eat insects}, spiders have 8 legs, spiders spin webs of silk, and those webs help them to catch food. We started the class with a really fun activity where we passed a huge ball of white wool back and forth across a circle, unraveling it and having the kids hold onto the yarn tightly as we went. The result was a giant collaborative spider web that I then flew giant insect figurines through in order to illustrate how spiders collect their food.
Afterwards, we created our own spider webs using hole-punched paper plates and yarn, and then made handprint spiders like we do each year at Halloween to attach them. {This is Grae’s spider and she is a girl, fyi.}
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.
When the paint is dry, attach some googly eyes to the spider’s body using white craft glue.
Then, cut the spiders out, leaving a small border of coloured paper around the edges.
Attach the spider to the web with glue or tape, or if you want the spider to have a little wiggle to it, glue a small pompom in between the web and spider. And voila… All done!
And if handprints are still too tricky for your little one, here’s what we did last year using a footprint instead:
