It's all about stories!: Spiders and spider's webs

We've been having fun with everything spidery lately. And with Halloween coming up this fits in nicely. It all started with cleaning windows at home - we had to miss out two windows because spiders had built huge webs right across them and we didn't feel we could destroy them just to clean the windows!

So I went to the library to find some spidery books to share with the children. And I went shopping for plastic spiders, and found a plastic spider's web left over from Halloween a few years ago.

Here's what we did:

We read Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, feeling the lines on the pages as the spider spun more of the web. The children joined in with the repeated phrases of the story. (EYFS links - literacy, reading)

We played a game of "What's in my bag?". Actually it's not really a game I just have story props in my bag and the children like to find out what's in there. So in my bag were all the little plastic spiders. We took out one at a time, laid them in a line and counted them. Then we talked about what would happen if we took one away or added one more, and about how we could share them out between all the children, two each. (EYFS links - Mathematics, number)

We read Aaarrgghh! Spider by Lydia Monks. This is an amazing story about a spider who just wants to be a pet, but the family he chooses aren't quite so keen. The page with the sparkly spider's webs at the end is great. The children all join in with the repeated refrain "Out You Go!" each time the family put the spider outside. (EYFS links - literacy, reading)

We looked at some spider fact books from the library. The first one is great for little ones, the second one is very picturesque - only view if you're not scared of spiders!

While at the park, we go on a spider web hunt, and find loads in the bushes round the edge of the park.

We look at Wilbur's Words by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul. I discovered that there are some hidden spiders on the pages and so the children try to spot them.