Spiders

So my oldest is now attending play dates with her new friends from Kindergarten and that leaves me time with just these 2 little munchkins.....

For the past few months, as school ended I started hoarding all kinds of things we'd normally recycle....

Egg cartons, toliet paper rolls, paper towel rolls.... I even asked a stocker in Target for some cardboard boxes that he was breaking down.... perfect for kids paint their masterpieces on.

There are all kinds of creatures you can make with egg cartons. 

Today's featured is the spider.

They were so excited....

The hardest part for them is the gathering of supplies..... if I was a little more prepared - well that's an entirely different story.

And the adult part... to cut the little spider bodies apart.

What? You don't see a spider there?

So intense... my son is almost 4 and my daughter turned 2 in May.... this is perfect for them with a little bit of help.

Kid's step 1 - Paint your spider black.

Or whatever color you would like....

for these munchkins - keep it simple... more than 1 color on the table results in "Mommy what is the red for? Mommy what is the red for? Mommy what is the red for?" a million times over

or

everything ends up a really gross brown shade....

As you can see, mommy even got to make her own spiders. Yes, it helped me from "helping" the kids make sure that they had "full coverage" paint on their spiders.... Mine are all black!

Kid's step 2 -  wash all the black paint off and let the spiders dry thoroughly. 

Drying time may vary.... for a 4 year old's spiders a couple hours may not be enough.....

depends on how many layers of black they put on 1 spot.

Adult help needed - poke 3 holes in each side of the spider's body & cut black pipe cleaners to length for the legs.

Kid's step 3 - insert black pipe cleaner "legs" into the holes. Bend the inside edge in to help get the spiders legs to stay put.

Even my 2 year old could do this part... well, at least a few & then it was too much of the same thing for her.

End result - "Surprise" - you have a spider. 

Now I will tell you there is one more step.... you can glue some wiggly eyes on them.....

We did not get that far.... those spiders disappeared so fast. They really did grow legs & walk away. 

And we have yet to put wiggle eyes on them.

My son decided that he didn't want eyes on his and honestly, I have not seen the spiders since.

Which, is kind of strange.....

My oldest daughter came home and wanted to know when she can make her spider....

So you know we will be doing it again.

Stay tuned for more spiders & caterpillars....

Hopefully!

Enjoy your crafty time!