Teaching Aids

Making Spiders

How to Make Large Pipe Cleaner Spiders

Traditionally spiders are made from black pipe cleaners,
but you can use any color.

You'll need:
Six pipe cleaners in all.
Two for the body, and four for the legs.

For the body, take two pipe cleaners, bend them in half
evenly, and then bend again. Your average pipe cleaner is
12 inches long, so this should leave you with pipe cleaners
approximately 3 inches long. Twist the pipe cleaners to bind
them, and make the body of the spider.

Now that you have the body, take the remaining four pipe
cleaners and lay them out horizontally, about a half inch
(or less) apart. Place the body in the middle, and make sure
all four pipe cleaners touch the body.

When they are all touching, and spaced the way you want
them, bend the four pipe cleaners around the top of the body,
and twist once at the joint to join the body and legs together.
Pull the ends away from the body on the opposite side they
started on, and voila! you've got your spider.

Lastly, Take a piece of black string, or whatever color you
prefer, tie it around the body between the second and third
legs. Children can hold the spider by the string and make the
spider dance with the music.

Small Pipe Cleaner Spider

You'll need:
2 pipe cleaners
A pair of scissors
Some thread if you want to hang the spiders

Take the first pipe cleaner and fold it into three even sections.
Cut at each fold.
Now you have 3 equal pieces of pipe cleaner.

Hold one of the pieces up to your second pipe cleaner and cut
one equal amount so you now have 4 pieces for the legs.

Take the longer remaining piece and wrap one end around
your finger to shape the head. Wrap the other end around a
pencil and shape the body of the spider.

Wrap each of the 4 pieces for the legs around the middle of
the body and twist so that each piece forms 2 legs.

Now you have the 8 legs of the spider.

Bend and curl the legs down to shape them.

If you wish, you can tie a piece of thread, string of fishing
line around the middle of the body. Now you can dangle the
spider and make it walk or dance.

Pipe Cleaner and Egg Carton Spider

You'll need:
One cardboard egg carton
Scissors
Black tempra paint
Eight black pipe cleaners for each spider
Googly eyes or construction paper to make eyes
Glue
Needle and thread for hanging

Step 1. Spread several layers of newspaper on your work
surface.

Step 2. Cut or tear the top off an empty cardboard egg carton.

Step3. Paint the entire bottom of the egg carton, inside and
out, using black tempera paint.

Step 4. Let the paint dry for a few minutes, then cut the egg
carton cells apart. Touch up the edges with black paint.

Step 5. Turn the cells so the open side is down, and insert
eight black pipe cleaners into each cell, four on each side.
Bend the pipe cleaners to look like legs.

Step 6. Glue on "googly eyes" from a craft store, or make
eyes for the spiders out of construction paper.

Step 7. Hang each spider using a needle and piece of thread.
Thread the needle and tie a knot at one end; then pierce it
through the egg carton cell from the bottom. Use a light-
colored thread to make it less noticeable.

Note: Make several spiders and hang them together for a
spooky effect, especially in low light.

With Hap's version of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", the spider can
start at the toes and crawl up to the knees, stomach, back,
shoulders, neck, forehead and hair.

With the song "Eights - Shimmy, Shimmy Shake", cards with
multiples of 8 are placed on the floor in order: 8, 16, 24,
32, etc.

Each child stands behind a multiple of 8 and holds a spider.
Students are given the direction: "When the answer you are
standing behind is called, hold up your spider". The observers
see that each spider has 8 legs and view the number of legs
increasing until finally 12 spiders have 96 legs. During the
chorus of the song, the students wiggle their spiders and make
them "shimmy and shake".

Music:
Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider - Hap Palmer version
CD: Early Childhood Classics - Old Favorites With a
New Twist

Song: La araña pequeñita - Hap Palmer version
CD: Divirtámonos aprendiendo con Hap Palmer

Song: Eights - Shimmy, Shimmy Shake
CD: Multiplication Mountain