Easy Homemade Spiders
Homemade spider crafts are an ideal way to welcome the Halloween season, or to turn your home or classroom into a spooky lab for studying arachnids. Easy crafts that use basic materials are optimal for young children who will be participating in the spider-making activities. While adults should still provide supervision, simple ideas let kids feel more independent as they construct their spiders.
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Cardboard Carton Spider
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Create a simple spider using an old egg carton. To make the body of the spider, cut out one cup from the egg carton and paint it black. After the paint dries, puncture four holes on each side of the carton with a sharp pencil or tool. The holes are where the spider legs will be threaded through. Black pipe cleaner makes effective spider legs that can also be bent and shaped to look like the spider is crawling. Insert four pieces of black pipe cleaner through the holes on each side, and bend them so the spider stands up on its own. You can glue a pair of googly eyes to the top of the carton spider body.
Toilet Paper Spider
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In this activity, a spider's body is represented by an empty toilet paper roll painted black. Or, if you do not wish to make a black spider, you can paint the toilet paper roll different shades of brown. Next, long, thin strips of construction paper are cut out and glued to the side of the toilet paper roll to look like the spider's legs. Use card stock if you want the legs to be sturdy enough to hold up the toilet paper roll body. For the last step, glue a black craft pompom to one side of the toilet paper roll opening as the spider's head. Glue fake cobwebs on the other side of the toilet paper roll opening, to make it look like the spider is spinning a web.
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Foam Spider
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A spider made out of a foam ball can be hung from a doorway or the ceiling for a spooky Halloween party. Simply paint the foam ball black and allow it to dry. While the ball dries, paint eight extra-wide craft sticks black. Once all of the materials are dry, insert four craft sticks into each side of the black foam ball. You may need to use a hot glue gun to get the sticks to attach successfully. Paint eyes on the front of the spider's ball-body with white or yellow paint. To get your spider to hang, use clear fishing wire to attach to the top of the foam ball.
Balloon Spider
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A balloon spider uses a blown-up balloon as the spider's body. A black balloon is most effective for this craft. After the balloon is slightly blown up, tie the end of the balloon so it maintains its shape. Then, twist the balloon towards the end so that you create a smaller circle out of the balloon. Now the balloon should have two shapes: One small circle and one large circle. The small circle of the balloon is the spider's head. You can also accomplish this by gluing together one small and one large balloon. Four pieces of black pipe cleaner are glued to each side of the balloon, and googly eyes are glued to the spider's head.
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References
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