Spiders are fun to play with all year around, though when Halloween is around the corner these little animals are close to irresistible. This spider dramatic play activity will be right up their alley.

Get ready for some squealing!

Searching for Spiders Dramatic Play

The goal of this activity is for the kids to find the most spiders in the shortest amount of time.

You set it up by creating makeshift yarn webs (not thread like I did, it’s a pain to get off afterwards!) and hide some plastic spiders in them.

You could do this all over the house, living room, classroom, garden and so on. Whatever works best for you.

Plastic spiders are easy to find in most dollar stores or you can grab them here on Amazon (aff link).

We contained our own search to the play room (aka our living room) in an attempt to keep the rumpus under control and we made webs under chairs, in plants, the play kitchen, our wooden space ship and lots of other pretty obvious places.

After the activity the webs stayed in place for another couple of days and the kids enjoyed quite a bit of imaginative play with their new ‘pets’.

Around Halloween you could make this search a whole lot scarier by dimming the lights or hide other critters alongside the spiders. Or maybe for very young children this activity as it is could be exciting enough. Feel free to get creative!

Spider Dramatic Play to Encourage Learning

This spider dramatic play activity is the perfect starting point for some full on learning about spiders. Most children will be bursting with questions as spiders are one of those animals that people either love or hate and children often pick up on that. Educating them about these wonderful animals can take away the fear and a lot of misconceptions. This way, through play, we can all make a difference taking care of our earth and all who live on it.

If you’re interested in learning more, you might want to have a look on Pre-K Pages, where there’s an entire page devoted to spider themed activities, both fun and educational.

All time favourites in our family are this Spider Web Activity Tray  from Munchkins and Moms and this spider playdough invitation from Fantastic Fun and Learning.

Dramatic Play to Spark Imaginative Play

We love dramatic or pretend play in all shapes and forms and do our best to encourage our children to play and get creative with the simplest of things, like a bag of fake spiders.

Remember to think outside of the box and say YES! to each idea that pops up in your head, you’ll never know where it might take you.

Enjoy!

Ann*

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