A. Paper Plate Spiders
Halloween Decorations! For this Halloween craft, we use small, dessert-sized paper plates. I found they were the perfect size when paired with the pipe cleaner’s spider legs. However, I believe you will use whatever you have on hand, so whatever size you have will do. Be sure to check out our paper plates category if you’re looking for more fun ways to mess around with paper plates at home or at school.
1. How to make these simple paper plate spiders
Check out our simple step-by-step guide on how to make your own paper dish spider crafts below. Check out our video tutorial in this post before you even get started. Before you know it, you’ve also got some spooky spiders to hang from the ceiling for Halloween decorations!
a. Materials needed for this paper plate Halloween craft:
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- Small paper plates (2 per spider)
- Acrylic paint (any color)
- Eyes wide (we use different sizes, 8 per spider)
- Chenille stems (4 per spider – we use some of Wal-mart’s Kids Craft glitter brands to make our spiders even
- Brighter and more sparkling)
- Brush tool
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Glue
b. Instructions for creating your colorful spider craft
1. Paint the bottom of two small paper plates with acrylic paint and set them aside to dry completely.
2. When the paint dries, cut four chenille stalks in half to make eight spider legs.
3. Align the two painted paper plates so that the ink faces both sides, then place a staple on top to secure them.
4. Hook a spider leg about 1 inch between the two plates and then hook it between the two plates. Do this with all eight legs, with four on each side of the paper plates. Then, wrap extra staples around the paper plates to close them.
2. What if you can’t use a stapler in a classroom with kids?
I’ve heard some people comment that they are not allowed to use staplers in the classroom. An alternative would be to glue each spider leg of the pipe cleaner to one of the unpainted sides of the paper plates. Then add a line of glue around the edge of the paper plate to the top of the legs with masking tape. Finally, place the second sheet of paper on the sticker with the painted side facing out.
One of the reasons I used a stapler with my preschool-age son is because grabbing and stapling are excellent fine motor skills. However, it is completely optional.
1. Fold each of the chenille stems so they look like spider legs.
2. Glue eight different sized wiggle eyes to the top of your spider. You can also use self-adhesive sticky eyes so you don’t have to wait for drying time.
Apart from that, my kids are much smarter than I am, because I didn’t even know that most spiders had eight eyes. After they insisted on pasting 8 eyes I googled them and they were right!
3. Use a hole punch to make a hole in the top of the paper plate spider and tie a white string so you can hang it as if it came out of a spider’s web.
My son’s black spider is especially scary. He told me he was a black widow. There! They look super fun when hung in different lengths on my living room curtains for Halloween decorations.
3. More Fun and Easier Halloween Crafts for Kids
These cute Halloween windsocks are another fun thing to hang on Halloween. Use our template to make a witch, jack-0-lantern, bat, mummy or ghost. This yarn-wrapped mummy craft offers preschoolers a fun way to work on strengthening their fine motor skills when making crafts. This is another clever way to turn a paper plate into a spider ship. This time, the paper plate turns into a spider’s web and the kids have fun pushing their spider in and out and watching it move around the web. The three-dimensional effect of this handcrafted pumpkin paper cup makes it a beautiful craft to display on a classroom wall art for Halloween.