No, I am not kidding. A spider web. One that will get your kids active, giggling, and begging for more. Let's start with WHY?
- It's fall.
- Kids love kind-of-scary things.
- There are an infinite number of ways to work gross motor skills using your web!
I started the tradition of hosting an in-home Halloween party a few years ago. Mostly because, it is the only holiday that doesn't require gifts, traveling to houses for multiple meals, and the list goes on...
As my kids have grown, it has gotten harder to contain their energy with simple crafts and scavenger hunts, although the pictogram treasure hunt was a success... but I digress.
Last year, I built a web in our basement. I cleared the furniture out of the way, grabbed some blue painter's tape and got to work. I started with the octagon in the middle, added the eight long legs, and connected them with, well, more octagons.
Then?
- We played walk the web. I played some music, the kids had to stay on the web and freeze when the music went off. For a real challenge, have them walk the web crab style, keeping both hands and feet on the web.
- Next, add props. We added bats and ghosts that had to be picked up without falling off the web. We upgraded the game with point denominations for certain colors of spiders, etc.
- Now become the prey. Use different gross motor actions to get from space to space without touching the web. Hop, tip toe, bear crawl, you get it. Add more difficulty turning it into a caught prey game - when the music goes off, you have to get on the web first (or not last).
- Don't forget the music. Play a Halloween Pandora station or their favorite kids' station. Music makes it more fun.
And when the party is over, leave the web up, even just for the weekend. Long enough that they can really enjoy it. Use their energy productively indoors. And be excited next year when they see the web return!
Happy Halloween!