S is for Spider–Easy Halloween Craft, {Healthy!} Snack, and Sensory Bin

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Our public library is renovating, so toddler storytime for October was canceled.

Bummer.

But some friends suggested we invite our library group to our house and try DIY storytime. So last Wednesday we had three of our little buddies over and guess what? We didn’t read a single story. But we did talk about spiders. (It’s almost Halloween. Of course we talked about spiders.) We counted their legs, and we made  and ate our very own creepy, crawly creatures.

At the grocery store the other day, my little helper spotted and grabbed some humongous suckers. They were the perfect starting place for our “S is for Spider” play date.

For each spider you’ll need:

  • Sucker
  • Googly eyes
  • 4 pipe cleaners
  • Glue (or glue dots would have probably worked better)

Fold four pipe cleaners in half and wrap them around the sucker “body.” Spread them out and bend to look like legs. Add googly eyes. We put two eyes on each spider, but follow-up research revealed that most spiders actually have eight eyes. Eight eyes would definitely up the creepy factor.

We worked up an appetite making spiders, so we followed up our spider craft with a spider snack. The original is much cuter than ours. Be sure to check it out! For this snack you’ll need:

  • Banana(s)
  • Pretzel sticks
  • Raisins

Cut the bananas into small chunks. Break pretzel sticks into small(ish) pieces. Add eight pretzel pieces (legs) to the banana chunks. Add raisins as eyes.

Did the toddlers eat the pieces faster than the mommies could assemble the spiders? Perhaps. Oh well, it was a fun idea and included some of my daughter’s favorite snacks.

Finally, I wanted to have some sort of sensory bin for the kids to explore. So I picked up a pack of spider rings and dumped them in a big plastic tub. Since it’s fall and our lawn is covered in leaves, I had planned to hide the spiders in real leaves. Sadly, our lawn was soggy. Spanish moss from a local dollar store had to suffice.

The toddlers dug around in the moss in search of specific colors of spiders. They tried on the rings. They buried the spiders back in the moss.

Later I helped the baby sit in the box and wiggle her fingers and toes in the moss. She was not impressed. Could it be because she’s only three months old? Perhaps.

I look forward to next year when she can actively participate in our Halloween fun!

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