At a Glance
Save a Spider Day is a wonderful opportunity to help preschool, kindergarten and other young learners see spiders differently - and this post has everything you need to make it happen. Expect spider facts, jokes, cross-curricular learning ideas, low-prep activity ideas, book recommendations, a participation certificate and a set of lovely printable spider activities! Celebrated every year on March 14.
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What Is Save a Spider Day?
Save a Spider Day is observed each year on March 14. It’s a light-but-meaningful awareness day that encourages families and classrooms to pause before squashing a spider. And instead, learn why spiders matter and how to safely move them outside if needed.
It’s a chance to remember that spiders aren’t just “creepy house guests”… they’re fascinating little predators with a job to do.
Why Is Save a Spider Day Special?
Save a Spider Day is especially useful for young children because it gently tackles something many of us feel: a fear of spiders.
This day gives you a calm, age-appropriate way to help your little learners replace panic with curiosity.
It’s also a lovely opportunity to talk about kindness to living things, what jobs predators do in nature, and how even small creatures belong and form part of healthy ecosystems.
Learning Opportunities
Save a Spider Day is a brilliant chance to help your children learn about mini-beasts, habitats, and how ecosystems stay balanced, whilst also practising calm responses to things that feel unfamiliar.
Here are a few key areas children can explore:
Mini-beast Science & Ecosystems
This is a great time to explore what spiders actually do. Your little learners can focus on the idea that spiders are predators that help control insect populations, which is part of how nature stays balanced.
You can also talk about where spiders live (in corners, sheds, hedges, under rocks and leaves etc.) and why those spots work well for them – they provide shelter, there’s food nearby, and they don’t get disturbed as much.
Empathy, Calm Choices & Confidence
This day is perfect for some gentle emotional learning. Your little learners can think about:
What a spider needs (safety, food, quiet spaces)
What we can do instead of squashing (step back, tell an adult, watch calmly)
How we can be kind even when something feels “creepy”.
That builds empathy and self-regulation and helps children learn that their feelings don’t have to control their actions.
Observation & Early Data Skills
Spider learning can easily become a mini investigation. Your children can count legs, compare sizes, tally how many webs they spot on a walk, or sort pictures of spiders by color/pattern.
Thinking like this can help build early skills like shape and pattern recognition, data handling skills, counting, prediction, and scientific vocabulary.
Did You Know?
Here are a few fun snake facts to share with your little learners:
Spiders aren’t insects they’re arachnids (insects have 6 legs, spiders have 8).
Spider silk is incredibly tough, and can be as strong as steel in certain comparisons (especially when you compare thickness/weight).
A spider’s body has two main parts (not three like many insects): the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
Most spiders have eight eyes (but some have fewer!).
Baby spiders are called spiderlings and some kinds of spiderlings can even travel by “ballooning” on silk threads in the wind.
Save a Spider Day Jokes
A little spider humour goes a long way – especially if you’re trying to win over your tiny skeptics. Here’s a few spider themed jokes you may want to share with your little ones:
- Why did the spider go on the computer? To check its website!
- What do you call an undercover bug? A spy-der.
- Why do spiders spin webs? Because they can’t knit!
- What do you get when you cross spiders and corn? Cobwebs.
- hat do you call two young married spiders? Newly webs!
Save A Spider Day Printable Activities
Let’s make Save a Spider Day feel calm, positive and fun for your little learners. Here at Nurtured Neurons, you can use spider-themed printables to help develop those early skills and learn in a way that feels safe and playful (no real spiders required!).
These hands-on activities are perfect for building early skills like fine-motor control, matching, counting, sequencing, and vocabulary, while helping your children see spiders as interesting helpers instead of “the enemy.”
Click on the images below to get a super spider-themed activity:
Other Fun Ways to Celebrate
These ideas use everyday materials and work well for classrooms and home learning.
Indoor Activities
Cup-and-paper practice (pretend version): Use a toy spider (or paper one) and practise the gentle “cup + card” move so your children learn a calm, kind response.
Web weaving station: grab some yarn and a paper plate or cardboard frame, make some holes around the edges and your little ones can weave their own webs.
Spider anatomy craft: Make a spider from pom-poms or playdough and pipe cleaners and count the two body parts and 8 legs together (great sneaky math moment).
Outdoor Activities
Morning web watch: If you can, look for webs outside early in the day. The dew makes them easier to see (and also makes them look super cool).
Spider-safe corners: Choose a small garden corner to leave undisturbed (leaves, twigs, plants) and talk about why spiders like shelter.
Chalk web: Draw a web on the ground with chalk and have your little learners move like spiders: creeping, stopping, changing direction. You could even have some that are flies…
Ideas from Around the Web (Get it?)
If you’d like a few more ways to celebrate, here’s a few simple ideas from some trusted sites:
Stick Spider Web – children collect sticks outside and weave yarn around them to create a web – a great mix of outdoor time and fine motor skills. (Mother Natured)
Chalk Spider Hunt – draw chalk spiders around an outdoor space and have your children search for them in realistic hiding spots. Perfect for observation and gross motor skills. (Wildlife Trust)
- Spider Web Fine Motor Game – a playful “rescue the bugs” style activity using a pretend web to develop finger strength and coordination. (The Imagination Tree)
Simple Classroom Display & Group Activity Ideas
Here are some easy ways to bring your spider theme to life in a group setting:
Spider web circle game: use yarn in a circle to create a “web” between children and talk about how webs catch insects and how ecosystems connect.
Feelings before/after chart: your little learners choose an emotion (scared/unsure/curious/confident) or talk about how they feel towards spiders before learning, and then repeat again afterwards. See if anyone’s attitudes have changed. Some social-emotional learning and data skills.
Spider role-play: Children pretend to be spiders moving around obstacles and finding suitable spaces to make their webs. Afterwards, discuss where they felt safest and why.
Save a Spider Day Reading List – Spider Books to Explore Together
Books are such a gentle way to help your little learners warm up to spiders – here’s a few:
The Very Busy Spider – Eric Carle
A calm, reassuring story about a spider building her web while farm animals try to distract her.
Diary of a Spider – Doreen Cronin
A funny spider diary that helps your children see spiders as more relatable than scary.
Walter’s Wonderful Web – Tim Hopgood A sweet story about a spider experimenting with shapes to make the best web — great for early math language too.
National Geographic Readers: Spiders! – Laura Marsh – Bright photos and simple facts for curious little learners who want the real science stuff.
Discussion Starters
A few simple questions can turn this day into a real confidence-builder for your little learners (without forcing anyone to “love spiders” overnight). These open-ended questions are great for encouraging reflection:
Why do you think spiders sometimes make people feel scared?
What do spiders eat, and why is that helpful?
Where do you think spiders feel safest outside?
What could you do if you saw a spider in the house?
What was the most interesting spider fact you learned today?
Save a Spider Day Certificate of Participation
I’ve made a little certificate you can use to help celebrate your learners’ efforts with a cheerful keepsake! I’ve kept it simple as I know too well how time consuming writing the dates and signing a class worth or certificates can be…
Click the button below to download and print a Save A Spider Day Certificate of Participation:
Save A Spider Day Final Thoughts
Save a Spider Day is a chance to turn nervousness into curiosity, and teach your little learners about these often misunderstood creatures.
Through playful activities, discussions and stories, your children can discover that spiders are fascinating, helpful and full of surprises.
Did your little learners enjoy celebrating Save a Spider Day? We’d love to hear what activities you tried or any creative ideas you came up with, please share them in the comments below!
Enjoy!
And if you want to see what other special days are coming up soon – as well as grab a few choice activities – you can check out our Special Day Calendar here.
