A MINI AFFAIR

Playdough Spiders

Are you looking for an activity to do at home with your toddler? Are you looking for something with Halloween in mind? These playdough spiders will be the perfect activity for you.

We started off with picking two different playdoh colors, so that we could have more than one spider color. My son chose two of his favorite colors: yellow and blue. Since this was a last-minute activity at home, I didn’t have many pipe cleaners to choose from for the legs. We ended up with purple, black, red, and green. Finally, googly eyes made it simple to add eyes to the spiders. We did have a pack lying around from other crafts we’ve done so it worked out well. If you don’t mind mixing playdoh colors, you can always use a different color for the eyes and have your little practice their pincer grasp while making small playdoh balls for the eyes.

Now let’s get down to the step by step.

First, we took turns taking pieces of the playdoh and rolling them into a ball shape. I let my little have fun with squishing, smashing, and pulling it apart until he was ready to get it into its final shape. Once we had the shape down we moved on to step number two.

The next thing we had to do was prep the spider legs. I cut up a pipe cleaner into six pieces of varying sizes because its just more fun when the legs are different sizes. 😀 Once the six pieces were cut I handed them to my little so that he could push them into the ball. For the first side, I let him hold the ball while he pushed the pipe cleaners in by himself. After he did the first three legs he asked me to hold it while he pushed the pipe cleaners in. For the younger ones, it is probably going to be easier for you to hold the ball while they push it in.

The last step, pushing the googly eyes in. Keep in mind, if you have the eyes with the sticky back, don’t remove the back. You just need to push the eyes in and they stick perfectly.

In the end, we made one spider at a time. We spoke about the colors we used, we counted the legs, and by the time we got to the last two spiders he was having so much fun he added more than two eyes.

After you’re done you have the option to take them apart or put them into a Tupperware. We chose to put them into a Tupperware because he wasn’t read to let go yet. 😆 You’ll be happy to know that after about four hours they were still squishy and the playdoh hadn’t hardend.

I hope you enjoy this activity with your little as much as we did! Take it further and name the spiders. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram or Facebook and subscribe to our website. If you make these spiders tag us and let us know how they turned out!

Interested in more activities like this? Our Mommy & Me Calendars have a variety of different crafts and activities that are age appropriate for your little one. Subscribe to our website and you’ll get access to our calendars for free!

Erika & Penny

A Mini Affair