Spiders {Expanded}

Check out our new and expanded “Spider” unit!  We’ve added a few new printables, which you can download. 

Just click the image above to download a single zip file of all the printables. (Can’t unzip it. Try Hamster Free Zip Archiver approved by Amber’s husband. Remember to download carefully.)

You will need to be able to view pop-ups to download the unit, as it will appear in a pop up window from our site!
Here are the printables included in this unit:

• Ss Letter Sort
• W for Spider Web Craft or Lacing
• Number Order Puzzle (1-10 and 11-20) 
• Magnet Page
• Smack that Spider- Letter Recognition
• Patterns (ABAB and AABB)
• Spelling Puzzle
• Spin & Graph
• Life Cycle Puzzle
• Count & Clip
• Which is Different?  
• Spider Dice Game
• Count & Graph
• Writing Maze
• Beginning Writing/Cutting Practice
• Size Sort 

Tot Pack
Looking for some ideas for a younger tot?  Check out our Spider Tot Pack. (Tot Packs inspired by 1+1+1=1.) Here are the printables included in this pack:

• Spider Match
• Spider Shapes 
• Count the Spiders 
• Spider Colors (mini book)
• Size Sequencing
• Spider Picture Puzzle

Products We Use with Our Units

Looking for more ideas?

• Devotional & Memory Verse Helps
• Learning Center Ideas
• Tactile Spider Craft and other Craft Ideas
• Recommended Books
• Family Movie Night - Spiders 
• Last Year's Post

There are also more  ideas, units, printables and crafts available on this theme.  Check out our Pinterest Board for some of our favorites!
We hope you enjoy these printables and please let us know if you have any issues with downloading or using the items provided. 

We’re linking up to: Preschool Corner.

Please do not sell or host these files anywhere else. You MAY link people here. When leading others to these printables, please link to THIS page, not to the file page.  Thanks! (See TOU)

Spider Craft Ideas!

Last year when we did the unit on spiders E and I had the chance to get a little crafty.  We made this little guy:

 

Its amazing what some pipe cleaners, a set of googly eyes, and an old egg carton can do!

The thing is there are a lot of great ideas out there for Spider crafts, so in case you’ve already made the egg carton spider, here are some more things for you to choose from!

This little guy is cute and easy!  Better yet, its low on the supply side of things, so all you need is some construction paper!

These funny little guys are too cute, aren’t they?!  I found these over at Gone Bananas,and I think this might be what we try this year!

And lastly, with Halloween approaching, you might need something cute to hang around for awhile and hold that candy!  This little guy will do the trick!

Happy crafting!

Memory Verse Helps: 2 Corinthians 5:5

Here are some extras to help your kiddos memorize this weeks verse, 2 Corinthians 5:5 . 

You can download all of the printables, including the devotional, HERE.

Here is what is included in the download:

Memory Verse Card: Use this card daily during your calendar time to work on memorization. 

Memory Verse Puzzle and Cutting Practice:  This puzzle fits together to form this weeks memory verse. 

Memory Verse Color Order and Cutting Practice: Using color order arrange the verse.

Memory Verse Writing Practice: With this you can practice parts of the whole verse, or just work on starting a single letter.        
 

You may also re-visit this verses devotional from last year.  We hope you enjoy them!

Spider Centers

This week we are expanding our Spider Theme printables. 

To get you started, I’ve found some fabulous resources that can be use in independent centers.  Remember to go over how to do the activity with your kiddo before allowing them to do it independently.

Pretend Play

Felt or Flannel boards are a fun way to retell stories or even matching activities.  If you don’t have one, they are easy to make.  I found several tutorials on the web, my favorite from Itty Bitty Love. I love that it is small for kiddos and CHEAP!!  If you’d like to make a bigger one then check out Totally Tots or Teach Preschool for inspiration.

For our spider week, I found some felt patterns for the Itsy Bitsy Spider from Making Learning Fun.

Felt Board Pieces for Itsy Bitsy Spider

Play-Dough

I created a few play-dough mats to go with this week’s theme. I suggest you print them front to back and laminate them, so they can be used over and over again!  To keep your kiddos engaged even longer, provide a few spider cookie cutters.

Play-Dough Mats: Spiders

Art

Do your kiddos like stickers?  If they do, they’ll love this spider sticker craft. All you need is spider stickers, black paper, white crayons or white chalk.  Have your kiddo draw a spider web on their paper and then add some spider stickers.  We didn’t have spider specific stickers so we just used some smiley faces that I had and added legs. 

 

Hope you have some fun with these creepy crawlies.

Tot in Action-Spiders

Here is a look at what we did this week.  To find the lessons and materials needed for this week please check out our lesson post!  Hope you all have a great week!

Spiders

This unit has been expanded. So, make sure and get all the printables here.

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Here is what we’ve been doing this week. Let us know what you think.  We hope by providing these materials to you free of charge, it will make your life easier! 

 

Please do not sell or host these files anywhere else. You MAY link people here. When leading others to these printables, please link to THIS page, not the 4shared file page.  Thanks! (See TOU)

Lesson Plan: The lesson plan includes all the lessons for the week, as well as optional ideas. Items following the lesson plan are just the printables or links to websites we used to teach these plans.  (Please note: On top of our lesson plan we are reading books daily that relate to our theme.)

 

Memory Verse: This memory card is for daily use during our calendar time.  You can learn more about calendar time at 1+1+1=1 or Homeschool Creations.  Our weekly devotional is an object lesson that will help your child apply the meaning of the verse to them.
 

 

Day 1: 
Spider Spelling Puzzle- Introducing a new activity!  We found this idea at Hummingbird Educational Resources.  This activity will help your child begin to recognize that when letters are combined they form words.

Graphing Spiders- This activity will introduce your child to making a simple graph using concrete manipulatives and to practice reading the data displayed on their graph.

 

Day 2:
W is for Web- Teaches your child how letters are linked to sounds to form letter-sound correspondence. (We have two ways you can do this activity- lacing or coloring. You can color with a white crayon or chalk. If you use chalk spray the paper with hair spray before gluing.  The hair spray sets the chalk and it won't continue to flake off.)

Get Me to My Web! (Dice Game)- This activity will help your child begin to read and count whole numbers 1-3.

Day 3:
Smack the Spider- Have your child smack the letter you call out to reinforce letter recognition.

How Many Spiders in the Web?- This activity will help your child begin to read, count and model whole numbers 1-10. (Choose the Counting Cards that are best suited for your child.)

 

Life Cycle of a Spider- This coloring page from Block Pub will introduce your child to the life cycle of a spider.

 

 

We hope you enjoy these lesson plans and please let us know if you have any issues with downloading or using the items provided.  

 

Questions?  Post questions or comments on our Facebook Page.  You may have the same question as someone else.  If you don’t have a Facebook account, feel free to email us.

Tactile Spider Craft

For our craft this week, I just had to pull out one of my favorites from my archives.  This tactile spider craft was inspired by The Very Busy Spiderby Eric Carle and was originally posted on my personal blog. I guarantee with a little prep work, your child will love it. Enjoy.

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This week one of our library books was The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.  This story is about a spider who is busy spinning her web.   My son really loved the fact that he could feel the web the spider was spinning.

For our art project we recreated the spiders web.

Now there was some prep work on my part, but it was well worth it.  To prep for this you will need blue finger paint, a black crayon and...

Create a spider web using the glue gun on the finger painting paper.  Set aside to cool and dry.  While you wait have your child color the brown construction paper with a black crayon.  It adds texture to your fence posts. (I cut mine first and it was harder for him to color it.)

Then bring the spider web over and add a glob of blue finger paint.  Let you child spread the blue paint around, while feeling the bumpy spider web. While they are doing this, cut 4 strips from the brown construction paper for the fence posts.

Once the painting dries, have your child glue on the fence post and pom poms for the spiders head and body.  Using the permanent marker, add two eyes and 8 legs. (Now don’t judge, but I cut off all the extra paper that didn't have any blue covering it and straightened his fence post.  I know shame on me.)  Have fun.

For this Purpose

  This week our memory verse comes from 2 Corinthians 5:5.

 

“Now it is God who has made us for this purpose.”

Materials:

• Some pictures of animals or some animal toys

• A picture of your child

Directions:

• Let your child pick an animal or a picture of an animal out.
• Ask your child if they know what that animal does, and talk with them about that. 
• Talk about the devotional with your child
• Afterwards, pray with your little one and ask them the suggested questions.
• Say the verse above with your child.  We suggest that you print the verse off and use it every morning with your calendar time.  If you don’t do calendar time still say the verse each morning with your tot before you begin tot school.

Talk about the following with your tot:

We like animals, don’t we?  All of these animals have a special purpose that God gave them and we talked a little about that.  You know this week we’ve been learning a lot about spiders.  Spiders are very important animals, did you know that?  They are, really!  God made spiders to eat other bugs and insects.  Because spiders eat these bugs people don’t have to worry about there being too many bugs for us to handle.  God made everything with a purpose that He intended.  Purpose is a fancy way of saying what something is meant to do.  Everything has a purpose.  You know, I have a picture of you here, too.  Did you know that just like everything God made, He made YOU with a purpose too!  He did!  Do you know what your purpose is?  You are meant to love God and show that love to others!  That is what God made you for, and only you can do what He made you to do!  Today, let’s pray that God will give us a chance to love others and show us our purpose.   

Dear Father, thank you for giving us all a special purpose.  We know that you love us very much, and we ask that you help us show others how much we love you.  Help us remember that we are special, that you love us, and that only we can do what you made us to do.  Amen

Questions to ask your tot:

• You might want to review last weeks questions with your tot.
• What did God give each of us?  Purpose
• What  is our purpose?  To show love to God

Questions?  Post questions or comments on our Facebook Page.  You may have the same question as someone else.  If you don’t have a Facebook account, feel free to email us.

Family Movie Night-Spiders

This week we are learning all about spiders.  Oh, what a creepy  topic, huh? A tantrum courtesy of the terrible two’s is pushing our night back a day, but for our family night this week we will be watching that classic children’s film, Charlotte’s Web. 

                                                       

In our house we kick it old school, so we’re watching the animated version.  I know there is a recent live action adaptation too, but I haven’t seen that one so I can’t give a recommendation!

Our snack for family night comes courtesy of Taste of Home.  This Spider Snack is cute, tasty, and incredibly easy!   Just put together Ritz crackers with Peanut Butter and insert won-ton noodles for the legs.  The eyes can be raisins, or chocolate chips! 

If you have a sweet tooth, consider making these cute little guys from Saffron Hut.  They use Oreo Cookies, pretzels, and Reese Pieces! 

Hope you guys have a great, tantrum free family night! 

Must Read- Spiders

We will be learning all about Spiders this week. Since certain spiders give me the heebie-jeebies and I know I’m not the only one,  I have decided to share a few “cute spider” books.  Below are a couple of our favorites books that we have read, so far:

Aaaarrgghh! Spider! Is a funny story about how a spider wants to become a family pet. In the story the spider tries to get the family’s attention by showing what it can do: dancing, catching its own food, taking a bath, etc.  Of course, it just freaks the family out because all they see is: a spider running across the floor, a spider and its web above the kitchen table, a spider in the shower, etc.  Your kids will love it because every time the family sees the spider they yell out, Aaaarrgghh, SPIDER! If your kiddo is anything like my son, they will be screaming along in no time.

 

Miss Spider’s ABCis another “cute spider” story. In this story Miss Spider's friends are preparing to throw her a surprise birthday party. Every insect has a job to do.  If you haven’t had a chance to read any Miss Spider’s books then you really should give them a try even if it is just for their beautiful color illustrations.

 

Here are a few more suggestions:

Questions?  Post questions or comments on our Facebook Page.  You may have the same question as someone else.  If you don’t have a Facebook account, feel free to email us.