Arachnids Fascinate Young Children

What's Your Favorite Spider Story? 

Spiders are often over feared and misunderstood. When a spider web and huge “Charlotte” appear in the yard you might turn them into family STEAM activities at home (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math).

Observe Spiders

 Adults and children can observe a spider with a magnifying glass for several days while it adds to its web, collects insects, and encases them. Check on spiders working at night with your flashlights. How much progress do they make by morning?  Observe spiders around the neighborhood to compare spider webs. Warn children to look and not  touch because they will bite.
   Check out some other nonfiction spider books from the library like “I Love Spiders” by John Parker and “Anansi the Spider” by Gerald McDermott. Search for “Spiders: children videos” on You tube. Here's one find: 

https://www.pinterest.com/snowangel7781/theme-spiders/ 

"Isty Bitsy Spider” song and many other finger plays are also found on the Internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLi_tCSJyAA

 Children can discuss how spiders help the ecosystem by catching harmful insects like mosquitoes and flies.

Anansi the Spider - McDermott

 Are there female spiders carrying white sacs of eggs? Research if Daddy Long Legs are really spiders.

   Adults and children may discuss what facts they learn and use different geometric shapes to illustrate a few pages about spiders. Children may dictate sentences for captions under the pictures and help staple the pages together.

Making Spiders

  With adult help, children may create their own spiders.  Children can cut out two circles (head and body), eight long 

FINGER-PLAYS Online!! 

skinny rectangles for legs. Circles for eyes, and tape them together to make a spider. Hang a string and thread it through a short straw taped on the back so the spider can climb and drop down from the string.

  With help children may make edible spiders.  Cut two circles from bread, spread peanut butter, add eight pretzel legs and eight raisins for eyes.

   Children can also go outside to make spider web mazes in sand or on the sidewalk. Spread out stones in the sand to make points for a pentagon, hexagon, and octagon. With a stick or chalk make lines like spokes in a wheel to connect each stone with the center of the shape

  To catch an intricate web, spray one with a

I Love Spiders - Parker

 light coating of white paint and carefully swish a large black piece of construction paper made by taping several pieces together. What geometric shapes are in the web? How do spiders store their meals? Which web has captured the most insects? How strong is a web?

Family STEAM activities help young children observe, form questions, increase vocabulary, do quick sketches and writ stories of what they see for science journals.

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Creating A Home Art Corner

fdarling fotos

 What would happen if you provided an art corner for your children and supplied them with objects found around your home and in the great outdoors?  What if you read to them every day and took them to the library and provided a literacy-rich environment?  Listen to the words of Caldecott Award winning children’s illustrator, Lois Ehlert, tell us about her childhood experience as described in “The Scraps Book: Notes From a Colorful Life.”

  “When I was little, I read all the books on the library shelf, and I thought maybe someday I could make a book. I was lucky. I grew up with parents who made things with their hands.  Mom loved to sew.  She had colorful fabric scraps, buttons, lace, ribbons and many scissors that she shared with me.  Dad had a basement workshop.  He gave me wood scraps and taught me how to paint, saw and pound nails.  So I had wonderful art supplies and tools close at hand.  In a small corner of my house, Dad set up a folding table for me.  It was my spot to work and dream.

 Ehlert goes on to tell how she created a love of art but not for books right away.  She knew that it takes time to develop dreams. 

Easy Ideas

fdarling fotos

She finds her book ideas and inspiration from the world around her.  For example, shopping for fruits and vegetables gave her the idea for her book, “Eat  She planted a spring garden for her mother using red, orange, yellow, blue and purple flowers. The result was the book “Planting a Rainbow.”  Children could pick and dry flowers to make a rainbow garden picture for you.

ing the Alphabet.” Your children could eat their way through the alphabet for fun.

  “The Scraps Book.” provides several other sources of inspiration including her ice fishing decoy. Your children could make little bird, or other animal decoys with nature scraps or wood glued together and painted.

  Ehlert tells about her art technique called collage.    She describes it as very messy but “when ideas are flowing, I keep working.”  She uses a variety of tools to create texture, including spatter painting with a toothbrush and rubbing a crayon over a grater.  She adds objects close at hand such as toys, food, pinecones, seashells or bottle caps.  The many colorful photographs in the book show the results and give children ideas for their own projects.

Creative Focus

  Why is this important to children?  Creativity focuses on process of forming original ideas through exploration and discovery.  Creative children learn to think and solve problems for themselves.  They learn not to fear mistakes and feel free to invent, create and find new ways to do things – all valuable and much-needed skills in today’s world. 

Photos: Fran Darling fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities... See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Plan a Picnic -- Indoors?

Picnics are definitely a summertime favorite for kids of all ages, but how about planning a wintertime picnic? What better way to enjoy a fun, indoor activity by staying warm and not worrying about the ants! What to bring is always a big decision. Involve your children in menu planning and skill building while you are planning your fun time together. 

Materials you will need: Food magazines or old cookbooks with pictures, scissors, glue, paper plates, markers, crayons, paper punch, yarn, and drawing paper

What to do:

  Plan the Meal: Before you invite your children to go on a picnic, label several paper plates with the incomplete sentence:  _____will eat_____on our picnic. Explain that a menu needs to be planned. Ask your children what are their favorite picnic foods. Be sure to share your favorites. Make a list of these foods. Talk with your child about healthy choices and a well-balanced meal. 

  The nutrition site www.choosemyplate.gov has a many easy food suggestions for young children.  Decide what to bring and put a check mark by each food you will pack. Find pictures of favorite picnic foods in magazines or old cookbooks. Your child might want to draw and color the foods instead.

  Help your child, if necessary, cut out the pictures. Glue one picture in the middle of each paper plate pre-labeled with the sentence. Remind your children that one dot does a lot when using glue. Help your children correctly print their name on the first blank and the name of the food on the second blank. 

  Writing tips:  Use pencil dots as a guide for children to trace. Use only a capital letter at the beginning of your children’s or your name. Help children listen for sounds in the words that will be written down. Children could substitute your name on some of the plates. 

   Make a Meal Book: Decide upon a title and write it on a clean paper plate. Stack the finished plates under the front cover and bind the book along the left edge using the punch and yarn. Take time to read the book together. Have your child read each food item as you pack it. Once you are all packed, off you go on a warm sunny adventure indoors or outdoors!

How does this help my children?

Your children are learning about making healthy choices when deciding on what to eat. They are learning name recognition and writing the names correctly. When writing, your children are learning letter recognition, letter sounds, practicing correct letter formation, and that peoples’ names begin with capital letters. Proper print letter formation is found on line and in children’s practice books.

What else can I do? Go to the library to find  "Teddy Bears' Picnic" by Jimmy Kennedy and "The Bears' Picnic by Stan Berenstain. Then cuddle and enjoy some great picnic tales.

Photos: Picnic Basket: Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Author: Jeremy Noble; Campsite Mural (Teddy Bears' Picnic), Campsie, Omagh - geograph.org.uk - 619801.jpg. From Wikimedia Commons; Salads: By U.S. Department of Agriculture (20111025-FNS-RBN-2046) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Find More Activities: 

For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Reading Picture Books

Books with few words but beautiful pictures are fantastic for story telling and developing conversation skills. Children who read well have usually been read to often. Researchers recently reviewed eight studies and found that reading to your child can raise his or her IQ by over six points. No TV show, video, or computer game can replace two people engage by reading together and talking.

Materials you will need:

Ask your librarian for Caldecott Medal winners with few words.

  If you can’t get to the library, use your computer and go to the Storybird site. It is an excellent collection of very visual stories all created by other readers. In your browser: http://storybird.com/

Find out more tips and ideas in the Storybird Blog: http://blog.storybird.com/

What to do:

   Gather a few stuffed animals to read with you in a cozy spot. If you are using Storybird on computer, you can browse from a list of topics and age leveled links. You can even create your own picture stories right in Storybird since the pictures are all provided in the program. These stories can be saved and shared with others when you create your own account.

How to read together:

 After reading the title and author, start a conversation “Look at that.  What do you see? Just soak in the beauty of a few pages. Then start making up your own story using your words and the author’s illustrations. Your child will learn to add to the story.

  Ask questions that begin with “What, who, where, when, why do you think, or how?”  How do the characters feel—happy, sad, angry, upset, lonely, warm and cuddly inside?  What is the character thinking about?  What will the character do next?” Give the characters names,

    After you have exhausted those questions ask, “What do you think will happen next?” Predicting is an important reading skill.

Whatever you do, take it slow.  Adults often hurry children. Instead, give them time to think. Relax. Reading calms children and adults, preparing for sleep soothing a hurt, and giving great joy.  This is an extremely important part of every child’s routine before naps and bedtime. 

More recommended books: 

Here are a few award winning picture book authors and titles to start: Tuesday, The Three Pigs, Flotsam, Free Fall, and Sector 7 by Wiesner; Lehman’s The Red Book, Museum Trip, Rainstorm, and Trainstop; Rathmann’s Good Night, Gorilla, and 10 Minutes till Bedtime; Briggs The Snowman; VanAllsburg’s Ben’s Dream; Blake’s Clown; dePaola’s Pancakes for Breakfast; Spiers’ Rain; Rohmann’s Time Flies; Deep in the Forest by Turkle; The Silver Pony by Ward; Yellow Umbrella by Jae-Soo Liu; and Hug by Alborough.

Find more American Library Association Award Winners at: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/the-one-and-only-ivan-wins-the-newbery-medal_b64364

Photos & Illustrations: http://storybird.com/pascalcampion/artwork/read-me-a-story/ ; Storybird logo
Reference: http://bit.ly/YxPbTk