We woke up, yesterday, to fog. It completely blocked out our mountain view. But, it did bring some closer beauties into focus, like the spider web on our back deck.
I know there are bigger, and deadlier spiders than this dime sized, barn spider, but really - it's orange, hairy, and has horns! So, we retreated to the safety of the house, and built a spiderless web, out of transparent tape.
Then, following a suggestion from Janice Vancleave's Play And Find Out About Bugs, I gave them a bag of cotton ball "flies" to toss at their creation. I really thought most of the bugs would sail right through the large holes we left, but a surprising number of them were caught in our trap.
And, in the time it took us to watch The Magic School Bus Spins a Web (here, on Gamequarium), the fog had lifted, revealing a gloriously, sunny day. It was wonderful after the gloomy rain we've been having, and perfect for showing the children how invisible spider webs can be. This is the same web, in the sun...
The younger children nearly walked right into it, before they spotted it, and they knew where it was!
And, no one wanted that, since it would have meant tangling with the architect.
I know there are bigger, and deadlier spiders than this dime sized, barn spider, but really - it's orange, hairy, and has horns! So, we retreated to the safety of the house, and built a spiderless web, out of transparent tape.I built the higher parts, but the younger children helped me with the lower edges discovering, that spider web building is harder than it looks.
Then, following a suggestion from Janice Vancleave's Play And Find Out About Bugs, I gave them a bag of cotton ball "flies" to toss at their creation. I really thought most of the bugs would sail right through the large holes we left, but a surprising number of them were caught in our trap.And, kudos to Janice Vancleave. There is a reason so many of her books made it onto our favorites list. The kids (ages 4-7) were wildly crazy about this activity.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
9 comments:
Oh, my kids are going to love this! Soon I will have to change the name of my blog to: Copying Almost Unschoolers! because I want to do all of these cool projects you do! I am also impressed that your "spiders" caught so many "bugs" in their tape web.
I certainly would not want to tangle with that spider - yikes! What a beautiful web though! Spiders are amazing.
We are watching as our spiders are beginning their building of webs here too. I tried to do something like this with Selena, but she was not game. I guess she thought we was going to have a spider there as well.
My boys would love this. Thanks for the idea!
That was one incredible spider web. Looks like your kids had so much fun with their own web!
What an awesome activity! I can't wait to try this one out. It is particularly perfect with Halloween coming up. Thanks for the great idea.
Oh my kids would love this We need to give this a try
What a great idea! We did something similar this morning, but different! It was fun to make the web and try different items to see if they would stay or fall. We will definitely be trying your idea too, as the other one was such a hit! Thanks for sharing! http://childcentralstation.blogspot.com/2010/09/sticky-web-and-yes-gravity-works.html
Kudos to YOU, Mom, for finding such a great activity and letting the kiddos have at it with tape!
I can see why spiderless web was such a hit. I admit that I hate real spiders even though I know mentally that they are useful. I just can't help myself.
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