Are you looking for extension activities to the amazing book by Eric Carle ‘The Very Busy Spider!’. You’re in LUCK! These fun and hands-on activities will help your kids work on word recognition, one-on-one correspondence, visual discrimination, counting and story sequencing.
The Very Busy Spider Sequencing
Using interactive activities like this one, is a hands-on and engaging way for your kids to learn concepts such as counting. It’s also a great way to master fine motor skills, visual discrimination and so much more.
What you get:
- Story Wheel Cut Out
- Sequencing Activity Sheet
What else is needed:
- Color pencils, markers/ crayons
- Paper Fasteners
- Scissors
- Glue
How to use this resource:
After reading the story, ask the children to name all the animals in the story. Hand out the activity sheets. Now ask the children to color all the animals on it. When they are done, children cut out the animals and paste them in the correct order on the sequencing sheet. They then cut out the story wheel and the teacher helps them to connect it to the activity sheet with a paper fastener. And then it’s time to re-tell the story!
The Very Busy Spider Role Play
All kids love pretending to be animals. This activity is great for getting them to practice speaking in front of bigger groups, work on those memory skills and just to have fun!
What you get:
- Black & White pictures of all of the animals in the story on A4 paper
What else will you need:
- Scissors
- Coloring pencils/ markers or crayons
- Tape
- Skewer sticks/ chopsticks
How to use this resource:
Depending on how many children you have in the class, ask each child to choose an animal (if you have 9 children…perfect! If 18, even more perfect! But if you have 14 like me, print out 2 copies of each animal and ask children to choose an animal). Let children color their animals and cut on the dotted lines. When they are done, tape a chopstick or a skewer stick (cut off the sharp sides on these beforehand) on the back of the picture of the animal. The children now have stick puppets!
Ask everyone to sit in a circle on the mat and re-tell the story. Whenever an animal name comes up, the children with that animal stand up and make the animal sound.
The Very Busy Spider Story Props
What you will need:
- Scissors
- Laminating Sheets
- Laminator
How to use this resource:
Print out the pictures, cut it out and laminate. Use these to re-tell the story.
The Very Busy Spider Ostrich Game
An activity that can be done in pairs, small groups or as a whole class.
What YOU WILL need:
- Sticky Tape
- Picture Cards printed out and laminated
How to use this resource:
Ask all the children to sit in a wide circle. Two children come and stand in the center of the circle facing each other. The teacher sticks a word card on each child’s back with the sticky tape. The children now need to see what’s on the other child’s back. The first one that can see what’s on the other child’s back has to shout it out. Continue the game until everyone had a chance.
The Very Busy Spider Shape Hunt
Another fantastic extension activity on the book ‘The Very Busy Spider’ is this shape hunt. Cut out and laminate the word cards then hide these around the room. Hand out the recording sheet. Ask the children to go and find the cards and to write the correct word next to each shape.
Click on the image to below to download the printable activity pack!
