Spiders weave webs and use them to catch their prey. Teach children about the webs and how prey is caught in them by creating a human web. Have the students stand in a circle, with one student acting as the prey in the center of the circle. Give one student a ball of yarn, have him tie the loose end around his wrist, and then throw the yarn to a person across from him in the circle. That person wraps the string around his wrist before throwing it to someone else on the other side of the circle. Have students continue throwing and wrapping until each student has helped create the web. The middle student should be stuck in the web. Ask students what kinds of bugs get stuck in a spider's web.
Teach students that spiders have eight legs with an egg-carton craft. Separate the 12 cups of an egg carton. Use scissors to make four holes on each side of the egg cup. An adult should do that part, as it will take sharper scissors to make the hole. Students can push a pipe cleaner through two holes to mimic legs. After inserting four pipe cleaners, it should look like the spider has eight legs, four on each side. Allow students to draw a face on the cup or attach googly eyes.
Help children identify which spiders contain venom. Print out pictures of several types of spiders and ask students to work together to figure out which spiders have venom. Once the students sort the pictures out, share spider safety information. For instance, explain that some spiders with venom like to build their webs in storage areas, such as the garage or the attic.
Students can make edible spiders with marshmallows and mini-marshmallows. Attach a mini-marshmallow to a regular marshmallow with a toothpick. Students can attach mini-candies for the eyes and make eight legs with mini-pretzel rods. Give them a spider web printout and have them practice their positional words before they eat their spider. For instance, a student could place the spider next to the paper and say, "The spider is next to the web."