Hands-on Spider Activity: Making A Spider Out Of Food

Since the class will be covering a week of themed lessons about Halloween, this hands-on activity will fit perfectly into this week of fun.  I personally have a love/hate relationship with spiders.  While I know they are great for the environment, I cannot stand to find them crawling around my house.  Since several of the topics from Halloween can be scary for children, like spiders for me, this activity is a great way to confront those fears without coming face-to-face with your worst nightmare.  In the activity,  the students will make a spider out of different foods and candies while learning about spiders and their body parts.

The activity:

Materials:

1. Large Double Stuffed Oreos  (1 per student)
2. Small Orestes  (1 per student)
3. 4 Black String Licorice or 8 Prezels (per student)
4. 2 White Chocolate Chips (per student)
5. 1 Redhot (per student)
6. 2 to 4 Tubes Of Icing ( matching color of chips or Halloween color)

* Any of these materials can be substituted for another item in the same shape to create a different type of spider or to be healthier for the students.

Step 1: Cut the black licorice in to one and one-half inch strings to create the legs.  Insert 4 pieces of licorice or prezels into filling on both sides of the double stuffed Oregon.

Step 2: With the tube of icing, place enough icing to attach the small Oreo to the large Oreo and let set.

Step 3: While icing sets, using the tube of icing, attach the white chocolate chips to the small Oreo and let set.  Then repeat step to attach the Redhot top and middle of the large Oreo and let set.

Step 4: With the tube of icing, place a small drop of icing on each of the chips swirl to give the impression the spider has pupils. 

This activity can be used during the students period of art for art project while reviewing learned knowledge, during math to use the different parts of the body for equations, or during science to discuss the body parts of the spider.