Spell Out Loud

Nothing about spelling, everything about learning

  • Contact
  • About
  • Home
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Homeschool
    • 2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum Plans
    • 2011-2012 Curriculum
    • Reviews
  • Tots-K
    • ABC Themes
    • Birthday Theme
    • Christmas
    • Early Math
    • Ice Cream Theme
    • Nursery Rhymes
    • Preschool Butterfly Unit
  • Printables
    • ABC Printables
    • Anatomy
    • Bible Printables
    • Christmas
    • Early Learning
    • Misc. Printables
    • Notebooking
    • Preschool Butterfly Unit
  • Preschool Science
    • Preschool Science Archive
  • Nature eBooks
    • Nature Study Printables 2
    • Nature Study Printables for Toddlers and Preschoolers
    • Hummingbird Nature Study
  • Christmas
    • Christmas Books and Activities
    • Holidays
  • How-To’s
  • MOSTLiving
    • Calendar of Events
    • Natural Living articles
    • Chemically-Free
You are here: Home / science / nature study / Learning About Spiders

Learning About Spiders

October 11, 2015 by Maureen Spell Leave a Comment

Spiders. Right now it is the season for spiders! I’m not a huge spider fan but can tolerate them from a distance. This past week we had a couple unplanned opportunities to study spiders.  I capitalized on that and we went on a little bunny er spider trail this week!

Learning About Spiders

Learning About Spiders

Observing Spiders

This first spider lives right above our dumpster. It’s a pretty big spider which kind of freaks me out. My son and I happened to be outside one afternoon while it was building its web. It was fascinating to see the thin silk come out of the spinneretes. We’ve gone out several days in a row and watched this spider work. We even saw it wrap up a fly!

Learning About Spiders

Observing this spider over the past week allowed me to introduce spider vocabulary words and facts:

  • spinneretes
  • fangs
  • arachnid
  • cephalothorax
  • abdomen
  • pedipalps
  • exoskeleton
  • spiders have 8 legs
  • spiders are not insects
  • spiders have 2 body parts –the cephalothorax and abdomen
  • most spiders have 8 eyes

Spider Web I Spy

spider web

On our last nature walk we played Spider Web I spy. We counted how many spider webs we could find on our walk. Did you know that abandoned spider webs are called  cobwebs?

Spider Activities

Here are a couple spider activities we have done in the past or that I hope to add to our spider learning.

Spider Sort

Spider Sort: Use this free spider printable for a sorting activity. For very young children, first have them sort between objects that are easy to distinguish which are spiders and which are not: plastic dog, cow, tooth, flag, spiders etc.  With older preschoolers have them sort spiders from insects. This is harder to do! Most children need to count the legs to be sure.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Story Disks: Print the following Itsy Bitsy Spider printable out on cardstock. Use while telling the rhyme or for retelling. What came first? Second?

Itsy Bitsy Spider Story Disks

Play-Doh Spiders: Use plastic googley eyes and pipe cleaners and have kids create their own custom spiders!

Play-Doh Spider

The Very Busy Spider Activities: A couple years ago we did a special craft to go along with one of our favorite books, The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

The Very Busy Spider Craft

Click to see The Very Busy Spider Craft

Other Spider Activities from Around the Web:

  1. Spider Learning and Fine Motor Skills Activity from Twodaloo — this is so awesome! If you are looking for an awesome spider sensory activity/language learning activity— this is it!
  2. Not So Spooky Spiders from Teach Preschool — several cute spider activities showcased in this post.

Are You A Spider?

We love the Backyard Books (afflink) series for young children! Of course we had to read this book for our impromptu spider unit!

Love Critters? Here are a few more we’ve studied:

Praying Mantis

Learning about birds

Observing Frogs

Raising Triops

Preschool Science Activities

Sharing is caring!

3 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Filed Under: nature study Tagged With: fall, preschool spider unit, spiders

P is for Pumpkin
Preschool Science: Learning About Bees

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Nature Study Bundle

$5.00

Add to Cart
Get all 3 nature study resources! Combined there are over 100+ nature printables and resources!
American History I Drew It Then I Knew It Video Art Lessons
Morning Time Subscription Tall Sidebar

Search

Key Words & Past Topics

Archives

Welcome to Spell Outloud! I love to share about educational activities, homeschool encouragement, nature studies and more. Find out more here!

Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Sign up for our free newsletter!

Dysgraphia

Recent Posts

  • Mama You Need to Fuel Yourself
  • Large Family Math Solutions
  • Chocolate Chia Pudding Parfaits
  • 11th Grade Homeschool Curriculum 2018-2019
  • 5 Reasons Teaching Textbooks is Awesome for Large Families

Copyright Spell Outloud © 2023 All Rights Reserved | Site design by Archer Creative