Spider Menus

Materials 

1. stories about bugs, spiders, and grasshoppers
2. chart paper
3. markers
4. large cardboard paper with spider stickers and a menu written on it
5. spider stickers
6. Styrofoam balls one for each child
7. black paint
8. black pipe cleaners
9. wiggle eyes

Instructions

1. Read a story about spiders with the children.
2. Encourage the children to help create a "spider menu" to use in a restaurant play. Ask them what a spider would want to eat if he could go to a restaurant. List their responses on a large sheet of paper.
3. Cut cardboard or sturdy paper into 6" x 9" rectangles. Give one to each child to make his own spider menu. Encourage them to copy some of the items from the chart paper and decorate with spider stickers.
4. Make Styrofoam spiders with the children. Give each child a Styrofoam ball to paint black. Provide black pipe cleaners for legs and wiggle eyes.
5. The spiders can "read" the menus!

Instructions

1. Place a medium-size plastic bowl, plastic pitcher with tape to indicate one
cup, and liquid detergent on each tray.
2. Let the children put one cup of water into their pitcher and pour it into a
bowl. Put a small amount of detergent in the water.
3. Encourage the children to use an eggbeater to stir up soapsuds; let them go
as long as they like!
4. Remove the eggbeater and tap it to remove suds.
5. Ask the children to rinse their bowl and return it to the tray. Wipe the bowl
with the sponge and wipe up any spilled water.
6. This activity provides an opportunity to teach vocabulary such as "beat,"
"lather," "bubbles," and "eggbeater." It also helps develop hand-eye
coordination and fine motor control.