Having Fun with Spiders!

Children are very curious. Give them a magnifying lens and they will examine everything, even spider webs.

I love the fun and fantasy of books and movies with animated bugs and creepy crawlers. I am extra pleased when the publication includes correct scientific characteristics and behaviors of the bugs. One of my favorite books is Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. At the end, Charlotte spins egg sacs and dies. Do all spiders do this or just Charlotte? (The answer is some spiders do and some don’t after they spin their egg sacs.)

As you read any animated story about spiders, ask questions and encourage the child to provide more than just a yes or no answer. Encourage your child to provide evidence for their answer based on their own experiences and knowledge. This is training for what scientists call stating a hypothesis. An obvious question about an animated spider is: Can spiders really talk like people?

A young or very imaginative child might answer yes, maybe or sometimes. Again, encourage the child to tell you why they gave this answer. Ask questions, such as “Have you ever heard a spider talk? ” or “Can everyone hear spiders or do they just talk to certain people?”

I am a scientist that still loves make-believe. In fact, I am guilty of telling stories about pet spiders that live only at my farm. This started when a black fuzzy spider dropped down from a light fixture directly in front of my granddaughter’s face. She screamed, but I told her not to be afraid. It was only Charlie, my pet spider. We talked about spiders and how they could be helpful, such as killing insects. We also talked about how Charlie did not want to be touched and might bite. I cautioned her that some spiders are poisonous, which is another reason not to touch spiders.

When I moved my granddaughter asked if I had brought Charlie to my new house. OOPS! I had to think fast. Thankfully I had earlier seen a large garden spider in a beautiful orb web stretched from the roof to a plant below. I told the concerned child that Charlie didn’t want to move. Elizabeth lived at my new house and was now my special spider pet. I told her to listen and she might be able to hear Elizabeth talking. Of course I always reminded the child that even pet spiders were never to be touched and if a strange spider was seen she was to let me know. My granddaughter developed a healthy respect for spiders and now, as an adult, she has fun memories of fantasy spiders as well as other things that lived only at Granny’s house.

Photo by Klipang Torok