April 8, 2009 | 18 Comments

Mess Free !

Spotty Spider

I am always looking for ways to do crafts that are friendly to those who are squeamish about mess. I don’t fault you if you are, my hands are always covered in paint, or markers and I usually have glue or sparkles somewhere on me. I get it, so we did this craft for those times when markers and paint just won’t work, and even though we used glue for the eyes, you can buy stick on ones and avoid the mess and drying time!

Gather your materials. You will need a paper plate, 4 pipe cleaners, glue , 2 googley eyes and some color coding labels ( they are circle stickers found in the office supply section and way cheaper than stickers).
Start by handing your child some stickers and the plate – and let them go for it. After my son did about 3 he said “glue” so I asked him if he could stick a red one, then a green… and he got back into it and covered it with no more prodding.
Grab the glue ( or the stick on googley eyes) and add some where you want to put the eyes.
Add the eyes.
Let dry.
Once they are dry enough to handle, poke 2 holes in the edge of the plate and thread a pipe cleaner through, zig zagging both ends, Repeat for all 4 .

Books !

“The Very Busy Spider” by Eric Carle was a favorite of my son’s from the get go. We have the board book edition and what I love about it, is that the spider web in it is raised and offers a sensory element to reading the story. This is a story of hard work, persistence and also helps reinforce animal sounds. Perfect for toddlers !

“Diary of a Spider “ by Doreen Cronin is a very clever book with some pretty funny bits of humor that I laughed my way through. It was too long to hold my son’s attention but older preschoolers would love it. The overall theme is that spiders aren’t all nasty and that they have fears too, a great lesson for kids !

Mess Free
Spider Cookies!

These treats were originally made for Halloween but they fit so well with today’s theme! They use pre made sandwich cookies to minimize mess and for me it helps avoid the copious amounts of cookie dough I ingest every time I bake.

Gather your materials. You will need some sandwich cookies , shoe string licorice, some gummy candy and /or jelly beans.
Open up two cookies and discard the sides with no yummy middle icing.
Cut your shoe string licorice into 8 legs of the same length and stick them in the white icing on one cookie.
Pop the other open cookie on top ( so it’s double stuffed now… you could also just use double stuffed to start with) .
Cut some green gummy candy into small circles. I am using sour apple licorice.
Pop it on top of the cookie to make eyes.
Add small bits of the shoe string licorice for the pupil.
OR you can cut a red jelly belly in half and pop those on for eyes. They stick well if you lick the bottom ( so you may not want to do this version if you are serving these to guests) .
OR you can add green gummy candy for the eyes and top it with the very end of a red jelly belly.
Enjoy.