Connect the Anansi story to units on science and art by creating spiders out of craft materials. Decorate a strip of paper with patterns or a spider face and glue it to the outside of an inverted cup. Around the rim of the cup, use a hole punch to make eight holes. Attach a colored pipe cleaner through each hole to make a spider leg.
During construction, talk about the biological characteristics of spiders. Discuss the characters in the Anansi story. Describe which traits are more like spiders, and which are more like humans. Consider why storytellers might choose a spider to represent a trickster.
Create a shadow puppet stage for the classroom by placing a paper screen in front of a directional lamp. Have students cut out shadow puppet characters and props for an Anansi play. Attach the puppets to clear straws or sticks for support. Create jointed puppets using brads to allow twisting motions in the play. Let the children write their own stories and work together to create an Anansi-style fable.
The Anansi folktale is a story in the West African oral tradition. Tales like these are passed down from storyteller to storyteller, without ever being written down. Explore the way stories change through oral transmission by playing the game "Telephone." Have the students sit in a circle. Whisper a detailed sentence into one child's ear, and instruct the class to transmit the sentence from person to person by whispering. Encourage the students to guess or make up words if they don't hear the sentence perfectly. After the garbled message is transmitted, trace the lineage of the sentence backward out loud to see where the changes took place.
The Anansi story can serve as an introduction to a study of African food and culture. Have a tasting session for students to sample African food staples, such as cantaloupe, sweet potato, peanuts and plantain. You can also expose children to African cultural traditions through music CDs, educational videos or museum visits to see art and artifacts.