Spiders

Spider Games!

Spiders are incredible creatures.  With their eight hairy legs, various colors, and compound eyes, children of all ages love spiders.  Here is a series of games that gets you excited about these lovely arachnids!

Spider Target Practice

Equipment: Black balloons and black foam noodles

Students toss the balloon into the air and strike the balloon with the black foam noodle.  They see how many times they can hit the balloon before it reaches the ground. They can use the noodle to try to keep the balloon aloft.

Spider Curl-ups

Equipment: Black balls or plastic spiders

Partners hook their feet together and hold spiders or black balls in their hands.  Curl-up together, show each other the spider or ball, and say hello to their partner’s spider.

Spider Aerobics:

Equipment: An old sheet and a flashlight

Have a student act like a spider behind the sheet and have students in front of the sheet copy the motions.  Include calisthenics (sit-ups, jumping jacks, and squats) in your routine.

Spider Web

Equipment: A couple of old sheets and several chairs

Place one or two sheets over chairs and leave openings at the beginning and at the end.  Students scoot on their stomachs through the cave.  Do not forget to include small spiders in the cave.  For a variation of the game, have the students scoot under the cave with a scooter.

Spider Mimic

Have students take turns acting like a spider while the other students copy the spider’s  movements.

Spider Bowling:

Equipment:  A black puck and plastic bottles

Set up bottles of various sizes and have students try to hit the pins with a puck colored like a spider.  Hypothesize which bottle will go down first.  For a variation of this game, try to use a black beanbag or ball and see what bottle goes down first.

Hit the Web

Equipment: A parachute and some plastic spiders

Have the students take a ball, throw it in the web (parachute) and see who hits the center first.

Yarns

Equipment: String and book about spiders

Have the students listen to a story about spiders.  Toss a ball of string to a student and then have them share one thing that they liked about the book.  Pass the ball around, spinning a web, until  everyone has had a chance to share.

Spider’s Web

Equipment: String and ball

Pick one person to be it.  Have them stand in the circle of string.  See if they can hit anyone with the ball.  If the person is hit, they become the spider.

Walk through the web

Materials: Foam noodles or exercise ladder

Set up a dozen foam noodles.  See if the students can first walk, then run, and, finally, skip without touching any of the noodles.

Spider Chute

Materials: Plastic spiders and chute

Gather students to lift a parachute.  Put a dozen or so spiders on the chute.  Hypothesize which ones will come off first.

Wiggling Spiders

Materials: Chute

Have kids hold the parachute and select a few to go under the chute.  As you sing the Wiggling Spiders song, have them come out of the parachute.

Wiggling Spiders

(Tune: Farmer in the Dell)

The Spiders are wiggling low

The Spiders are wiggling low 

Hi ho the derri-o

The Spiders are wiggling low.

Other suggestions for additional verses: fast, backwards, sideways, rolling over, wiggling out.

Spider Finder

Materials: beanbags and chute

Have the students hold up a parachute.  See if they can tell which color beanbag you put on the chute.  For a variation of the game, call out a color and see if the students can find the correct color.

These games are for parents, teachers, and those who love to work with children.  They are a great alternative for those who choose to not celebrate Halloween (like me), yet who want to have fun with the holiday.  So forget your fears about these eight-legged creatures and try Spider Games!

References

Party Game Central

http://www.partygamecentral.com/

PE Central

http://www.pecentral.org

PE Links four U

http://www.pelinks4u.org

Perceptual Preschool

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/

Scout Base Games

http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/direct/games/index.php?ID=219

Party Games

http://www.partygamecentral.com/pgcstandard/gametmpstd.asp?gn=SPIDER+TOSS

Wilmes, Liz, and Dick.  Parachute Play.Elgin, Illinois: Building Blocks, 2000.