There was a time when my toddler would cry out: “Mommy, spider!” and I would scream “where??”
Now, I know he is demanding the song, and not informing me that a creepy crawly is about to get me.
But what do you do when your toddler is obsessed with the Itsy Bitsy Spider song? You give in and play along, of course!
Itsy Bitsy Spider Activities for Toddlers
First I want to give props to my friend for her inspiring post, what to do when your toddler is obsessed with the Daddy Finger song. Mine is crazy about that one as well, see? But nothing is more exciting than the Spider song, so I thought it would be fun to write a post like this.
It all started out with this simple short video, that later exploded into recommendations with hour-long nursery rhymes!
Embrace the Itsy Bitsy Spider Toddler Obsession
I actually now have a special playlist on YouTube for my son, and most of the songs are variations of Itsy Bitsy Spider (and Incy Wincy Spider because apparently, we can’t decide what the song is actually called). He now sometimes asks for a spider of a particular color, and I have to find the right video. It’s always exciting to have a toddler who rules over you.
So with the obsession, comes fun ideas for crafts and activities to do something other than watch YouTube for hours.
You can read the book together! Finger puppets for the win! I love the soft sensory experience with this Itsy bitsy spider book!
This singalong book is from Little Baby Bum, which is one of the channels my toddler LOVES!
Here’s another interactive one where you can touch and trace! I love that!
How about this wonderful activity book from our favorites at Melissa and Doug?
Do Itsy Bitsy Spider Crafts Together
You may remember my fun craft stick spider craft post I made for fall. And if you don’t, you should totally check it out. This craft was inspired by the obsession that my son was starting.
Easy Paper Plate Spider Craft
Well, we recently did another craft -this time with paper plates! Well, just one plate.
Supplies:
- Construction paper
- Paper plate
- Glue
- preschooler safe scissors
- googly eyes
Directions:
My preschooler loves to cut, so I let him cut up a green piece of construction paper (his current favorite color), while I made the legs.
I made the legs by folding up a piece of construction paper in half three times and cut the folds to make 8 pieces. Then, I folded them up from one side back and forth (accordion style) to make it wavy like that.
I glued the legs to the back of the paper plate and let my kiddo glue the cut up paper on the front to make the face/body of the spider. Don’t forget the eyes. Fun and easy. Yes!
More Spider Crafts
I’ve seen quite a few paper plate spider crafts, like this paper plate spider puppet, and I think we need to do one for sure!
I want to make this climbing spider craft so bad! I mean, for my toddler of course. You can also get really active and make a giant spider web.
Itsy Bitsy Spider Playful Learning Activities
I want to do this STAT! This – wonderful itsy bitsy spider window activity. I just know my son would love it.
I stuck this project under learning because the craft itself looks complex for this novice (read: toddler-level skills) crafter. But the post talks about language development and it has some really good points. The fun part is the craft allows the spider to move up and down the “spout” so that allows for activity and language learning.
What nursery rhyme songs are your kiddos obsessed with? Can you turn it into something fun?
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Teresa says
I love the Itsy Bitsy Spider! It was my favorite nursery rhyme when I was little.I had a spider hand puppet when I was little that me and my sister would take turns crawling around and making up new verses and adventures for Itsy Bitsy to go on. I remember it was this cute, black spider puppet that we would crawl around, up each others arms and sometimes tickle each other as we sang the song. We had a best friend who would come over and he would sing nursery rhymes with us too. We would play hand puppets and reenact nursery rhymes with the puppets. I also remember one Halloween, me and my sister dressed up as spiders. The costumes were both all black, we both had black gloves and long black pants. We both had black T-shirts and 4 arms attached to the shirt. Our friend dressed up as a fly and we would sing itsy bitsy spider to him and tickle him. We got a lot of candy cause we would sing itsy bitsy spider when we went trick-r-treating. I still have photos of us pretending to be scary spiders and him pretending to be scared. And then some of us giving him what we called “spider hugs”. They are really cute. We had lots of fun times growing up, playing dress up and acting out nursery rhymes. Playing spider hide and seek, which we of course made up. I can still remember some of the verses we made up for the Itsy Bitsy Spider. We had so much fun with this song. Spider hide and seek was a game we made up where whoever was it was the spider, they had to wear black gloves, and everyone else were bugs. When the person who was the spider found someone, they would sing Itsy BItsy Spider and tickle them. It was so much fun.?
Elizabeth says
You should get a spider hand puppet to play with him. My little sister loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider. I did to when I was little, and I had this cute black, spider hand puppet that I now gave to her. She loves it when I sing the song to hear and crawl the spider puppet around and tickle her as I sing the song. Sometimes I’ll make up new verses or say “the Itsy Bitsy Spider is coming to get you” and she just starts giggling. She loves it.
Julie says
Ooh what a fun game!!
Elizabeth says
It is,she loves it when I crawl the spider puppet up and down her arm or her side and tickle her as I sing the song. She always asks me to sing it to her over and over again. It’s fun, so I don’t mind.
Elizabeth says
She loves it when I crawl the spider puppet up and down her arm or her side and tickle her as I sing the song. She always asks me to sing it to her over and over again. It’s fun, so I don’t mind.
Melissa says
These are SO cute. My son also yells out spider constantly and I had the same reaction LOL
Holly says
Nice…mine never loved this song in particular, but we definitely had some others!!!
Jordan says
What a cute post! Way to embrace the song with so many different takes on it! Mine is currently stuck on “Five Little Monkeys” and “Ten in the Bed.” I have ‘roll over, roll over’ stuck in my head all day!
Julie says
Haha oh man that roll over is a earworm too.
Kat says
This is really cute! My son loves little baby bum as well. Another great book is itsy bitsy I love you!
Julie says
Ooh I’ll have to look into that book!
Lori | Choosing Wisdom says
I remember when my son was obsessed with the itsy bitsy spider. I love how you’ve taken something he loves and helped to reinforce it through books and crafts! Great job mom!
Thanks for being a part of #WanderingWednesday!
Julie says
Thank you Lori that is so sweet to say!
Jennifer says
I love this post! I saw it on twitter but didn’t read all the way down until today. My son loves all songs toddler. We have a cd full of kids songs that he plays all the time and dances too. He loved the youtube one you have in here and started jumping up and down for the books.
Julie says
Woo! Our kids would get along hahaha
Michele Tripple says
This is fun! My toddler totally loves the itsy bitsy spider. We watched the YouTube video together and he got a kick out of it!
Thanks for joining #WanderingWednesday #linkup with Confessions of Parenting! 🙂
Julie says
Just a kick? Mine refused to potty without it ??