The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Yesterday we continued our study of Opposites with the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" poem. I was so impressed with the children's knowledge of the poem and their great spider actions. I asked the children what things were small and they said spiders, pumpkins and earrings :) I then asked what kinds of things are big, and I had a lots of children calling out "cars!", "elephants", "giraffe's" and "my house." We have a group of really sharp kids! We are really getting to know our opposites.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider poem is great for showing opposites because the spider is so cute and small. We said the poem once through while whispering to show how tiny it was. We then recited the poem changing the lyrics to the "Big Big Spider" and we all had to use our big, deep spider voices. So fun! The poem also uses opposites of the spider going UP the water spout and the rain coming DOWN.

Here's a video of the rhyme to jog your memory in case you forgot :) The only difference is we call it "Itsy Bitsy" while the video says "Eensy Weensy".


Our centers consisted of all things spiders. We made spiders out of an egg carton that I cut into single cups. The kids painted them and I glued on googly eyes and pipe cleaners for legs. We also had factual spider books at the Science Table, plastic spiders in the Sand Table, fun spider stories at the Library and an Itsy Bitsy Spider game at the Puzzle Table. We also did a fun art activity using a pringles chip can, bouncy balls and paint. This was to show the children how black and white are opposite. We rolled up a piece of white paper and placed it in the tube, dropped it a blob of black paint along with a bouncy ball, put the lid back on and the child shook it up. The ball rolls around in the paint creating a really cool piece of art we are going to hang on the wall. It was sheer coincidence that they ended up kind of looking like spider webs...so cool!

We will be continuing to recite the Itsy Bitsy Spider this week with more fun learning activities as well.