Halloween Spider Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers

With some simple staple art supplies and a toilet paper roll (which every household is sure to have!), you're good to go with this simple, yet fun, toddler and preschooler Halloween spider craft.

What you'll need:

1 toilet paper roll
Scissors
Black tempera paint
Paintbrush
Pipe cleaners
2 small pom poms
Glue
String for hanging your finished spider.

1) Sit with your child and allow them to paint their toilet paper roll with the black tempera paint and paintbrush (I used a dark blue paint that also works well). My son must have spent a good half hour just simply painting his toilet paper roll, so this was a craft itself for him!

2) Allow your toilet paper roll to dry. We painted in the morning and when we returned home in the afternoon, it was dry and ready for the next step.

3) Poke as many holes in the sides of your toilet paper roll as you'd like to insert the pipe cleaner legs. I did this by taking the tip of one of the scissor blades and, while applying downward pressure, moving the blade from left to right. Although spiders have eight legs, I found that six holes total worked well with the size of the roll we were working with, three on each side. Be sure to poke the holes lower on the toilet paper roll as you don't want the legs to be sticking out of the side of your spider's body.

4) Once your holes are cut, you're ready for the pipe cleaners. I found that cutting each of my pipe cleaners into three equal parts made the perfect sized leg for our Halloween spider. You can use any color you or your toddler/preschooler would like. Once you have your preferred size, you simply insert one end of your pipe cleaner into your toilet paper roll to form a leg. Bend it slightly to get your desired shape. Repeat this step for each hole made in your spider.

5) You're now ready for your pom pom eyes. Again, choose any color that you or your toddler/preschooler would like. Place a small amount of glue on the top of your spider where you'd like it's eyes to be and attach a pom pom. Repeat for your second eye.

6) Place your Halloween Spider on a surface so the glue is able to dry. When it's done so, you're ready to display your spider! I found that punching another hole in the top of my son's spider with our scissors and placing a string of yarn inside worked well. I tied a knot on the end so that the string would stay in place and I hung it from a nail that we have on a beam in our home.

Inexpensive, simple and fun! This spider has proven to be a great Halloween hit in our home.