Anansi Spiders

As a class we looked at the story, Anansi the Spider, an african folk tale about a spider and his sons. The kindergarteners just got done studing spiders, owls, and bats so I took the opportunity to draw from their classroom studies to do some shape building/recognizing.

After reading the book and discussing what happen in the story. I had them decide if they wanted to use red or orange colored paper for their web. I choose those colors because they are very bright and would have the black spiders stand out. Before making the web we discussed what type of line would work best, they decide on a rainbow line over and over. So they did that first in pencil, in case they made a mistake, and then traced over it with white oil pastel. Oil pastel due to being a little thicker and something new for them to try and experience. 

 Next we look at Anansi and his sons again. I ask the students to describe what they notice about them. They describe that they are made of shapes! From there I have them use quarter sheets of black paper to cut the body and head, using oil pastels again to use on the black paper to see what they are cutting. Then they take pre-cut black strips to make the very important 8 legs. I really stressed the importance of a big spider that would not fall from his web. I used my hand as a measure tool. I said "If I can smoosh and cover your spider with my hand, it is too small!"

Last step was properly the funnest. Students got to design their own spider with decorations! I showed them how I did mine as inspiration, again looking at the book. And let them loose at my scrap paper. Some, as you can see from above, had a great time.