I’m currently working on the theme of creepy crawlies for this month and found this nugget from Preschool Express
LADYBUG ACTIVITIES
HOLE PUNCH LADYBUGS
Cut two medium ladybug shapes out for each of your children (one from red paper and one from black paper).
Cut off the heads of the red shapes and cut them in-half.
Give each child a black bug and two half wing shapes.
Have children place the two red shapes on top of each other and using a hole punch, punch out some holes in the red paper.
Then have them glue the red shape over the black bug shape to create a colorful spotted ladybug.
LARGE LADYBUGS
Take the large bug pattern and cut it in half.
Cut out a half ladybug from red paper.
Let your children color the head black with a marking pen.
Then, have them make black dots on the body or glue on black poms.
These large half ladybugs can walk across the top of a bulletin board or make a fun boarder around the room.
FELT BOARD COUNTING GAME
Using the large bug pattern, cut out a red felt ladybug.
Out of black felt, cut out another head and a black thin line to place down the middle of the ladybug.
Next, cut out 12 black felt circles.
Lay the red ladybug on a table or place on a felt board. Place the black head and centerline on the red felt bug.
Then, let your children take turns rolling a dice and placing that many circles on each side of the ladybug’s red wings.
LADYBUG PICTURE
Cut out 2-3 small ladybug shapes for each of your children out of red paper.
Have children color the heads black and add black dots on the backs with crayons or marking pens.
Give children a piece of green paper and have them glue on some green “Easter” grass or have your children fringe some paper and glue it on.
Then, have them glue on their small ladybugs crawling on the grass.
LADYBUG CONCEPT GAMES
COLOR – When helping your children make ladybugs, be sure to point out that the body (or wings) are “red” and the head and spots are “black”.
SIZE – Make three ladybugs of different sizes. Have your children place them in order – from largest to smallest or from smallest to largest.
ALPHABET – Bug starts with the sound and letter “b”. Ladybug starts with the sound and letter “l”. Write out both words for your child to compare. Have them look for the word bug in the word ladybug.
SPACIAL RELATIONS – Buy a small ladybug stamp and find an old magazine or calendar for this project. Give your child directions like, “Stamp a ladybug on “top” of the house, or stamp a ladybug “under” the table”.
SPIDER ART
HAND PRINT SPIDERS
Here is a great idea sent in by Sara Bishop from Otterbein, IN. Set out black paint and brushes, plus some white paper.
Have your child paint four fingers and part of her palm on one hand.
Then, holding her thumb out of the way, press her painted fingers down on a piece of paper.
Repaint the four fingers and partial palm and this time press the fingers down next to the first print but with the fingers pointing in the opposite direction.
Now, you should see an eight legged black spider crawling across the paper.
STAND-UP SPIDERS
Give your child an 8” x 8” piece of black paper.
Have him fold his paper in half.
Open the paper and mark off eight 1” sections on one side.
Then, give him some safe scissors and have him cut seven slits in the paper (from your marks to the folded center).
Now, roll the paper into a cylinder shape and glue or tape the ends together on the top section.
Bend out the cut sections, creating eight spider legs.
Have your child glue on paper circle eyes to complete the spider.
Variation: You can make a miniature version of this paper spider by using a small 3” x 4” piece of paper.
TUBE SPIDERS
Have your child take a clean toilet tissue tube (or half of a paper towel tube) and cut eight slits halfway up the tube on one end.
Bend out the cut slits (legs).
Finally, have your child paint the spider with black tempera paint.
PLAY DOUGH SPIDERS
My kids always enjoyed these wiggly spiders.
Make some black play dough by adding black paint or powder paint to your favorite play dough recipe.
Give your child two small balls of black dough.
Next, have your children take four rubber bands and cut them open.
Then using some elastic string, tie the string around the middle of the three rubber bands.
Now, have your child lay the rubber bands across one piece of dough and use the other piece to wrap around the string forming a fat spider with eight legs sticking out.
When the dough dries, these fun spiders can be held by the elastic string and pulled up and down.
SPIDER HEADBANDS
Cut out a 3” x 18” strip of black paper and eight 1” x 5” strips of black paper.
Have your child glue the eight small strips sticking off the top of the larger strip, four on each side.
Let dry.
Wrap the large strip around your child’s head, overlap the ends and tape them together creating a headband. (Be sure the glued side of the large strip ends up on the inside of the headband.)
Now, show your child how to bend the small strips in the middle to create a knee.
Next, bend the bottom of each strip the opposite direction to create a foot.
PAPER SPIDER WEBS
Cut black construction paper circles to fit in the bottom of a round cake pan.
Place a black circle in the pan and then place a glob of white tempera paint in the center.
Let your children take turns coming up and holding the pan.
Drop a marble into the pan and have the child tilt the pan, so that the marble will roll back and forth through the paint, creating white spokes.
There is no right or wrong to these web designs.
Let children glue on black poms for spiders if you wish.
Variation: These can also be done with black paper plates.
YARN SPIDER WEBS
These webs turn out great but they are not super easy. I would only do them with children at least four. Set out large sections of waxed paper.
Give each child, 6 -12″ pieces of white yarn.
Set out a pan of white glue.
Have your children take turns dunking their yarn pieces in the glue.
They can squeeze off excess glue by holding the string pieces over the glue pan and squeezing the yarn between two fingers and pulling the yarn up.
Have the children lay 4 of the yarn pieces cross an imaginary center spot on the waxed paper, creating an 8 legged spoke.
Finally, have them dunk the last two pieces of yarn into the glue and place them around the spokes creating one large circle. They should overlap the ends of the two halves of yarn when creating the circles.
Set aside the webs to dry over night.
Later, go back over the children’s webs and with a squeeze bottle of glue, reinforce the areas on each web that cross over each other with additional glue.
When webs are dry, carefully remove them from the waxed paper.
Display on black paper or hang the webs down around your room.
BLACK PAPER SPIDERS
This spider activity lets your children practice their cutting skills. Cut black construction paper into 6″ x 9″ pieces.
Have children take a sheet, lay it sideways and make six cuts in the paper, starting at the bottom and cutting up to the middle of the paper. (Making 6 cuts will produce 7 sections.) You can do this part, if your children can not cut straight.
Then, have children wrap the sides of their papers around into a cylinder, overlapping the two end sections.
Next, have your children glue the two end sections together.
When the sides are secure, have the children fold out the bottom sections, creating 6 spider legs.
Spiders can now set upright.
Finally, have children glue on two spider eyes. Use small white paper circles or give them moving eyes.
Variation: You can make small versions of these spiders for finger puppets
“WORM” PAINTINGS
Let your children try one or more of these ideas.
Dip cooked spaghetti strands into paint and wiggle them across paper like worms.
Make “worm tracks” with pieces of yarn or string dipped into paint.
When finger-painting, wiggle fingers like worms to create designs.
PLAY DOUGH WORMS
Make play dough and color it brown with tempera paint. Give your children pieces of the dough to roll into snake-like worms. If you wish, let the children arrange their worms on Easter grass placed or glued on paper plates.
MEASURING YARN WORMS
Make “worms” by cutting brown yarn into pieces of different lengths. Set out the yarn worms in a pile. Then invite your children to arrange them from shortest to longest or from longest to shortest.
WORM PUPPETS
Give each of your children a small paper cup to use for making a “worm home.” Let them decorate their cups with glued-on flower shapes cut from colored paper and Easter grass. Help them poke a hole in the bottom of their cups. Then show them how to stick a finger up through the hole for a worm. Encourage them to make up stories about their worm puppets to share with one another.
