The Very Busy Spider- Children's Art and Literature

I just love Eric Carle's wonderful books! Guess what? So do my students! In my art classes, we studied creepy creatures that you might find in a rainforest.  One class created fabulous spiders out of painted paper inspired by his book, 

The Very Busy Spider.

This project was a simple project to do with the students and all students had fun creating their personal spiders.

Step One: Make the painted paper.  Use up old paint and have kids paint away! Let Dry.

Step  Two:  After reading The Very Busy Spider, have painted paper pre-cut in various sizes for the students to create their spiders.

 Next, look at the various shapes that make up the spider, 

tear drops, circles, and rectangles .

 After the main shapes are created and glued together have students add the details such as large eyes, mouth etc.

Legs are created by cutting strips of paper into short rectangles then glue together to make the long legs that crawl through spider webs and up trees!

 Lastly, give your spider a wonderful habitat to live in- 

Make fun flowers and leaves for your spider to crawl on.

Supplies:
Painted paper
construction paper
glue 
scissors

Laura is an elementary art teacher and the author of the blog Painted Paper. She has presented her thematic units nationally at the National Art Education Association and Ohio Art Education Association Conferences. You can follow her updates on fun and creative projects for kids here.