This is one of my favorite Halloween crafts for kids. It is
quick and simple, can be done with a crowd if necessary, and is
an excellent way to practice cutting and fine motor skills with
younger children. Older kids can let their imaginations take
over and create some really wacky spiders!

You will need:

Black paper
Scissors
Glue or sticky-tape
Googly eyes (optional) or scraps of paper and pens

Instructions:

Cut a rectangle of paper approximately 3 inches by 3 1/2
inches. Fold the short side down about an inch to make a
crease, then open up again.

Turn the paper so that the crease is horizontal, then cut the
paper in 7 straight lines up to the crease to create eight
spider's legs. For younger children, draw in the lines for them
to practice cutting on. For older children, show them how to
make the first cut in the middle, dividing the area below the
crease into 2 halves. Then show them how to divide each half
again to make quarters, then the quarters to make eighths.
There is no need to be too accurate.

Now wrap the spider around the child's finger and fasten with
sticky-tape or glue. Remove the spider again and decorate -
either with scraps of paper or with googly eyes. Put back on
the finger and bend the legs into shape or curl them around a
pencil.

Variations:

Hang the spiders up! Simply cut a length of black yarn (wool)
and attach inside the head of the spider with a small piece of
sticky-tape.

Make smaller versions of these spiders to decorate the ends of
Halloween pencils.

Wrap small spiders around straws to decorate your Halloween
table! Make some bigger spiders and scatter them around the
table as well.

Cut a small slit on either side of the spider's head and insert
a name card to turn these spiders into spooky place markers!

Once the body of the spider has been made but before
decorating, wrap a black pipe cleaner around the head of the
spider to give a furry effect. The protruding end of the pipe
cleaner can be curled into a hook shape, which makes the spider
easy to suspend from shelves, the tops of doors, and other
spooky places! Stick googly eyes on top of the pipe cleaner.


About The Author: Lindsay Small is the owner of Activity
Village, packed full of fun and educational activities for
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