Spider's Web

What You Need:

• Paper plate
• Tempera paint
• Hole punch
• Paintbrush
• String, or yarn (24 inches long)
• Tape
• Googly eyes

What You Do:

1. Ask your child to paint the front of a paper plate a single, solid color. We made orange from mixing yellow with a little bit of black. Let the plate dry completely.
2. Help your child use the hole punch to make holes all the way around the circumference of the plate. You can ask them to measure out the holes, which should be 2–3 finger-widths apart from one another.
3. Have them paint one of their hands from the top half of the palm to the fingertips of 4 of their fingers (no thumb!), and press down on left side of the plate. Their wrist should be in the center of the plate, with the four painted fingers pointing to its edge.
4. Help them repeat this process with their other hand, facing the opposite way to finish creating the body of their spider, ulitmately giving it 8 legs made from 8 fingers. Allow the spider to a little time to dry.
5. Now, encourage your kid to glue googly eyes on their spider.
6. Pull one end of the string through the front of the plate and tape it to the back of the plate. Ask them if they've ever seen a spider web. Did they notice how the web creates a pattern for the spider to walk across?
7. Ask them to weave their web however they like by gently pulling the string, or yarn, across the front of the plate and weaving it into the hole directly opposite of it. Then, have them push the string from behind the plate into a new hole to repeat the process.
8. Continue stitching the web until all holes are filled. Tape the final end of the string to the back of the plate, or use it to hang the plate up on a wall to scare people on Halloween!