Spooky Spiders and the Number 8

Happy Tuesday!  I love, love, love Halloween and the fun creatures we can study that tie into Halloween a wee bit without actually saying the word "Halloween".

Last week we started learning about spiders and the number 8.  I learned on day 1 that my kiddos are not afraid of spiders with this Cara Carroll inspired graph.

 

When learning about spiders, of course the number 8 pops up, which is partly why we started learning about spiders, because that's the number we are learning about.

We counted out 8 legs to make a spider hat...

We also played some games to learn the number 8.  This counting game was played by "spinning" a spinner and counting that number of spiders onto a web.

We also played a spin and record game to review numbers 1 through 8.

(You get these free downloads from my website -  spinner, tracing, and web.)

We also counted out 8 pipe cleaners to make spiders out of play-do.  The eyes are made with google eyes that are hot glued onto plug covers.

Another number 8 activity not involving spiders, was to create a skeleton - you know... a non-Halloween skeletons, with 8 "bones".

For more spider fun, we created a web by simply stringing white yarn through holes on black paper plates...

... then we attached our hand print spiders.

To learn more about spiders and their webs, we explored the stickiness of the web and trapped some insects.

Once the insects were trapped, we did an experiment (no pictures=sadness) in which we explored other sticky substances that also trapped the insects.  One of the sticky things was tape.  Then we came together as a class and stuck an insect to the tape.  We lifted the insect and saw the tape was still stuck to it, as well as stuck to me!  Then we learned that spiders don't stick to their webs because of the oil on their legs.  We dipped a spider into oil and walked him across the tape and noticed he didn't stick.  The cuties loved when I walked his unsticky self across and made munching noises as he gobbled the insect that was stuck to the tape.

Of course, we also enjoyed our spider web parachute and tried to free the insects before the spider got to them.