Making playdough bugs and spiders reminded me of that game “Cootie” I played as a kid — you had to roll dice to get specific parts of the bug and of course the winner was the person who got their bug together first. This activity simply involves playdough, some crafty things you probably already have at home or school, and some tape. I did this with my kiddos last week and they absolutely loved it.

Sometimes it’s not the product, but the process that’s important and in this case it was definitely true. The children got to use their imaginations and create some pretty strange (but cute!) bugs. They got to name their bugs, decide what their bug ate, what it likes/dislikes and any other detail that came to mind about their bug. This activity is a fun fine motor activity and it helps stimulate the imagination for sure!

You’ll need (for spider and its web):
tape (I use painter’s tape or vinyl electrical tape depending on where I am, type of flooring)
black playdough (here’s our recipe)
black pipe cleaners
googly eyes *

To make the spider’s web, I start out and make a “+” with the tape, then do two more lines, like you’re making a snowflake of sorts. Then I connect the sections starting from the middle and working my way out. It is never perfect, I like to think it looks sort of Eric Carle-ish when it’s finished.

When making the spider, I just took some black playdough and rolled it into a ball, cut the pipe cleaners so I had eight legs and then stuck them into the spider’s body, four on each side. Then push two googly eyes in where you think the “eyes” should be. Put spider somewhere on the web.

You’ll need (for playdough bugs):
several different colors of playdough
chenille “bumpy” stems (several different colors)
googly eyes
black pipe cleaners (cut in short pieces for antennae)
craft pom poms (not essential but are great for silly bugs!)

This is where the creativity begins. I made a few bugs myself to give the children some ideas. They can be like real ants, beetles, and other bugs or they can be strange and silly too.

Once the children are finished with their bugs, have them gently place their bugs on the spider web for the spider. They can also use this time to tell you about their bug and of course we took pictures of our bugs on the spider’s web.

We also read The Very Busy Spider for our story that day. I decided to put together a “lesson plan kit” for next time — it has everything we need ready to go.

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