Purchase a large plastic spider in a retail store's seasonal section during fall, or make your own spider using a foam-ball body and pipe-cleaner legs. Glue the spider to the end of a wooden dowel rod. Enlarge a copy of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and display it on a wall or easel. Encourage the children to join in as you recite the rhyme. Point to the words with the spider as you read. Allow children to take turns finding certain words or letters in the rhyme using the spider pointer.
Illustrate "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" using felt board pieces, as suggested by MakingLearningFun.com. Cut out a yellow sun, a light blue cloud, a grey water spout and a black spider from pieces of felt. Decorate the pieces using fabric paint or permanent marker to add details such as the sun's rays or lines on the water spout. Glue wiggly eyes on the spider. Sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as you move the felt pieces on a flannel board. Alternatively, make the pieces from paper and attach self-adhesive magnetic strips to the back. Stick the pieces to a magnetic easel to let children act out the rhyme.
Transform a sock into a spider puppet, as recommended by the All Kids Network. Children can cut black felt into eight strips, then glue these onto a black sock to make legs. Cut a small piece of red yarn to glue onto the end of the sock for a mouth, and then glue on wiggly eyes to complete the spider. Children can wear the spider puppets on their hands and use them to make hand motions while singing or reciting "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."
Children can make a movable spider craft with an idea adapted from the DLTK's Growing Together website. Wrap a cardboard paper towel tube with aluminum foil to make the water spout. Make a spider by painting a foam ball black, gluing on wiggly eyes and poking halves of black pipe cleaners into the sides for legs. Tie a piece of white yarn onto one of the spider's back legs, then drop the yarn through the top of the water spout and out the other end. Children can pull the yarn to make the spider crawl up the water spout, and release the yarn when the spider gets "washed away."