Spider Web Activity

One of our PT’s used this great game around Halloween time (I know, I’m a little late publishing it but better late than never)!  The idea came from ‘No Time for Flash Cards’.  The object is to walk along the tape lines and pick up all the spiders that are in the ‘web’.  Not only did the kids love playing this game but it also worked on some great skills such as:

• Balance and Body Awareness – by having to keep their feet on the tape lines they are working on maintaining balance with a significantly narrowed base of support and maintaining awareness of where their feet are.  (For kids who can’t manage that small of a line you could have them either keep one foot on the line or double up the tape lines to make them wider)
• Squatting – when the kids reach an area that has a spider they will have to stay on the line, squat down (while maintaining their balance), reach for the spider and then return to standing.  For kids that need some extra help you could put the spiders closer to the lines so they don’t have to reach as far.  You could also use bean bags if kids don’t have the fine motor dexterity to pick up the small spiders (to change it up some you could give them tweezers or clothespins to try to pick the small spiders up with).  You could also put the spiders on step stools so that kids don’t have to squat as far down if they are still working on this skill.
• Motor Planning/Executive Functioning – the kiddo has to figure out how to get to each spider (by walking the lines of the spider web) which involves planning out their path.  They also need to work on once they are there how they stay on the line while still picking up the spider.

Who else has done an activity similar to this one?