Yes, yes....I know spiders aren't insects. But I decided to include them in "bug week" anyway! I originally planned to call this week "creepy crawly" week to account for this issue, but butterflies and ladybugs didn't exactly seem "creepy crawly." So I stuck with bugs and dealt with the annoying reality that spiders are arachnids and don't belong in this theme!!
The Very Busy Spider
Upon choosing to nix The Very Hungry Caterpillar from bug week, I felt it was only fair to include another Eric Carle book - The Very Busy Spider. This book is everything I expect from Carle - short and sweet, great illustration, and it has the fun sensory bonus of raised images for little ones to feel. The fact that it includes animal sounds made it even more appealing to my toddler.
MAgic SpiderWebs
I was thankful that watercolor painting was so successful yesterday, because I had it planned for spiders as well! Inspired by Let's Lasso the Moon, I drew a spider web on watercolor paper using a white crayon (this was harder than I expected, as I had to be in just the right light to see what I was doing!). I then gave the paper to T to paint with water color.
The watercolor did not adhere to the areas I'd colored with white crayon - so as he painted he revealed a spiderweb hidden underneath. Just as the very busy spider gradually spun her web, his web gradually appeared as he painted over an around the white crayon.
The Itsy-Bitsy Spider
A day about spiders wouldn't be complete without singing the itsy-bitsy spider! I plan to continue singing this (and other songs about insects/arachnids) the rest of the week, as my toddler is really starting to pick up on the hand motions for songs and singing occasional words as well.