Spring and Spiders
Unit studies are the way to go with younger learners. I’m also a huge fan of them even now as a mama. Letting them pick the topic does so much for their learning. Something they’re interested in. Something they love and want to know more about. Something they talk about and repeat to their family, showing that they are learning it. It’s a great way to add Science, Geography, Fine Arts and all the other subjects into one topic. So for you homeschooling mamas looking for a great topic – look no further than the seasons! Spring is here and we’ve got tons to learn and so much fun to be had!
I’ve got a multiple-part Spring overarching unit that I am doing with the boys. First off is reviewing the seasons – focusing on Spring. And then we jumped right into spiders. Eventually, when all parts are done there will be a FREE Spring Printable Activity Pack available for print. Just sign up at the bottom and you’ll get each part as it comes out and the full one at the end.
FREE SPIDER ACTIVITIES TO GO ALONG WITH ALL OF THESE GREAT SPIDER BOOKS AND VIDEOS. GET A FULL WEEK OF SPIDER THEME ACTIVITIES CURATED AND CREATED FOR YOU.
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes different learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different activities for home preschool and kindergarten families. Along with a curated list of books, crafts and videos to help add to the lessons! Our SPRING Printable Activity Pack comes with each topic part as we go through them. Download yours today by signing up for our email list. Includes: lesson plans, worksheets, activities, words for word walls, math sheets and more.
Lesson Plan:
This lesson plan comes with the printable pack – sign up below and get yours sent to your inbox. This unit covers Science and Geography. Along with Fine Arts and writing practice. Our SPRING Printable Activity Pack contains writing, prewriting, book activities (an activity that matches along with a book), life cycle and spider part posters.
These are the categories I planned around and what we focused on:
- Parts of a Spider
- Life Cycle
- Types
- Spider Webs – read about it
- Where they live (geography), what they eat
Snacks:
A fun way to start any topic is with a cool-themed snack. We didn’t get to it this time around, but I found a few cool ones HERE.
Crafts and Activities:
For spring specifically, we just reviewed the seasons with a ton of reading. My FREE Spring Printable activity pack has a few fun spring worksheets.
Colouring sheets are a must – great for them to do during read-alouds or for younger ones while you’re doing school with the older ones. I found a few crafts to do with them, a few being attached to a book that we read together first.
Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider book and craft was easy enough to do and we re-read the story while they did it.
Tim Hopgood’s Walter’s Wonderful Web is also a great book – and the activity for it is great for toddlers learning their shapes. You can get my FREE Spring printable activity pack has the activity sheet made for this one, sign up at the bottom of this post.
If you’ve got a more artsy type – painting and watercolor is an awesome way to go – check this one out HERE.
My FREE spring printable activity pack has preschool and kindergarten-based activities to do throughout this unit. You could add different things per kid based on where they are. More in-depth research on a certain spider, a book study. You could run with this theme into a lot of different ages and activities.
If you’re looking for more you can check out this printable too.
Books:
Spring Books:
Springtime by Anna Milbourne – fun little hide-and-seek book about spring
Seasons by Marie Greenwood
Spring Sings for Grouchy Lady Bug by Eric Carle – another edition of the grouchy lady bug
Busy Spring by Sean Taylor – follows a family as they discover all the different ways nature wakes up from its long winter sleep
First Spring by Eric Carle
The Magic of Seasons by Vicky Woodgate – the magic and science of the seasons
Spider Books:
Walter’s Wonderful Web by Tim Hopgood – A great first book about shapes tells the fascinating story of Walter the Spider and how he creates amazing things in his web.
The Weaver by Qian Shi – a cute story about a spider that collects things in his web
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle – a little spider too busy spinning a web to talk to any of the other farm animals
Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin – tells the story of a spider’s daily life written in a diary, it’s funny and cute.
National Geographic Readers: Spiders by Laura Marsh – a good fact book
Videos:
The boys love watching short YouTube videos of whatever we are learning. I love it too – they can do their colouring sheets or activity sheets while watching. I found a few good ones, check them out below
beginning part shows her spinning the silk nest and depositing the egg sac; the ending isn’t relevant to the beginning but has other facts
good intro into spiders, i love this channel for all things kids science
read aloud of a spider book with an example manipulatives at the end
Trantula-specific video talks a little about where in the world they live.
a read-aloud of this specific book
it goes through the types and names of different spiders
All about webs and bugs being trapped, and how they eat bugs.
the beginning is about jumping spiders – one in particular, Portia – this was a favorite for my kids. The beginning part #5 (superpowers of jumping spiders), #4 (mating dance) #3 – trapdoor spiders, we skipped the mating tarantulas at #2, and the last part is the longest web shooting – it was cool to see the spinnerets that we talked about prior.
Sensory Bin:
Always a fun way to add something to a unit study. I didn’t however, but you can find tons of ideas on Pinterest like this ONE.
Well, there you have it. Spring and Spiders, with more to come!
Stick around for more FREE printables, book lists and video lists. My spring unit has many parts and next up is Rainbows!
Sign up to be the first to know about it and get the FREE spring printable activity pack sent straight to your inbox. My Instagram homeschool channel has tons of homeschool ideas and activities as well. You can join it and get updates, free sheets and other fun stuff!
I hope you enjoy and this is useful for your homeschool days!
Love, Crystal
