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With Halloween just around the corner, we are sharing one of our favorite craft activities…the Creepy Crawling (not so Itsy Bitsy) Spider.
This activity has been a hit with our clients year after year. Boys and girls enjoy walking their large, creepy crawling spiders down the hall and attempting to scare their parents. While having fun as you make the spider, it is also an opportunity to build some language, speech, and fine motor skills by doing any one or more of the following:
Talking about the spider using descriptive terms such as “spooky” or “creepy” Naming the parts of the spider and counting the legs Cueing the rhythm of cutting and folding by saying “cut” with each scissor cut and “fold it” with each paper leg fold Using “ing” action words to describe the spider and what it is doing, such as walking, jumping, hopping, and dancing Modeling complete sentences such as, “the spider is walking” or “the spider is dancing”Adding a twist to the sentence for humor, which builds imagination, such as saying, “the spider is walking to the moon,” or “the spider is walking to the moon to buy pizza!” Acting out and reciting the nursery rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider” using the paper spider Prolonging the “s” sounds in “s-s-s-s-spider” and “s-s-s-s-spooky” to help encourage use of the “s” sound while making exaggerated or funny faces
Teach children to have a “little bit scary” fun by surprising their parents or siblings as they say, “Watch out! It’s a spider!” But no need to fear, as this activity is eerily simple. Just follow the step by step instructions below to creepy crawling fun!
Step 1. Using printable outline, cut out stencil, place on black paper, guide child in tracing and cutting out spider shape.