Preschool Activities to Use With the Very Busy Spider

"The Very Busy Spider" is a book by author Eric Carle about a spider who blows on to a farmyard fence and ignores repeated attempts by the other animals to talk her into playing instead of finishing her web. Enhance the reading of the book for preschool children by implementing activities that are related to the book.

  1. Crafts

    • Help preschool children make their own "Very Busy Spider" as featured in the book, "The Very Busy Spider." Use a plastic foam ball as the body of the spider. Let a preschool child paint the ball black. Poke black chenille stems into the ball to create legs for the spider. Glue googly eyes onto the ball to complete the craft.

    Animal Sounds

    • "The Very Busy Spider" features many farm animals including a cow, goat, and dog. Review animal sounds with preschool children prior to reading the book. After reviewing the animal sounds, instruct children to make the sound of each animal they see in the book as you read. For instance, when they see a cow in the story, the students should collectively start "mooing." Another way to use animal sounds is to divide the students into groups and have some students responsible for the cow sound while others say the goat or dog noises.

    Performance

    • Engage children in a performance of "The Very Busy Spider." Choose one preschooler to be the spider and other students to play the parts of the other farm animals. Provide simple costumes such as an over-sized black sweatshirt for the spider and simple paper plate masks for animals. Have students invite parents to watch the performance.

    Other Preschool Activities to Use with "The Very Busy Spider"

    • Consider decorating a classroom with spider webs to enhance the reading of the book, "The Very Busy Spider." Faux spider webs and spiders can be purchased at big box stores or party stores at Halloween. Let preschool children help decorate the room with the supplies.

      Another activity to use in conjunction with the book is to have preschool children make their own pictures to use with the book. For instance, have the children each draw a picture of a cow or a dog, which are two animals featured in the book.

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