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Little Miss Muffet Crafts
Below you will find some projects and activities centered around the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet." Keep in mind that this theme page is really aimed at younger children, up to about age 5. Don't be fooled into thinking that these projects and activities are too simple for this age group. Young children thrive on simplicity - it gives them the opportunity to work independently, to understand the task at hand, and to "own" their work. Immersing them in projects and activities that center around a particular theme allows them to gain a greater understanding of the theme and internalize it.
For parents or caregivers, working around a theme makes it easier to craft with your kids. Things will be more organized, and you won't have as much trouble coming up with ideas. In addition, you can plan out a few days ahead of time what you want to do with your child.
The Nursery Rhyme
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
That sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Theme Craft Projects
Thumprint Spiders
In one corner of a plain sheet of construction paper, draw a spider web with a marker. Use a black washable stamp pad or black paint and have your child put a thumbprint on the paper. Draw on the legs(8), eyes, etc. and connect the spider to the rest of the web.
Spider Webs
Cut several pieces of yarn in various lengths. Use white glue (like Elmer's Glue) and make a spider web pattern on a piece of construction paper. Let child glue yarn onto the paper to form a spider web.
Styrofoam Ball Spiders
Paint a styrofoam ball (any size you want) black. Let dry. Use black pipe cleaners to make the legs by poking them about half an inch into the ball. There should be 8 legs. Use wiggle eyes to give your spider a little character. Attach a string to the top of your spider (so that you can hang it) by opening a paper clip up to form a "U", tying a string to a paperclip and then pushing it into the top of your spider as far as the paper clip will go. (Younger children shouldn't do the paper clip part on their own.)
Theme Printables
These are coloring pages, skill-building worksheets, and activity pages.
Little Miss Muffet Coloring Page
Spider Maze
Spider Web Connect-the-Dots
If you are looking for additional skill building worksheets, you can't do better than the workbooks recommended below. I use worksheets a lot with my children, and I make a lot of my own. If I use a workbook, I copy the pages for them instead of letting them work directly out of the book, then we can use the pages over and over. This is especially handy if you have more than one child, but also works well even if you just have one. A child can do the same page a few weeks later and not even realize it is a repeat, especially if they had trouble with it the first time.
Jumbo Jumpstart Workbook: Pre-K
Big Preschool Workbook
Preschool Giant Step Ahead Workbook
Big Kindergarten Workbook
Uppercase Letters: Pre-K
Preschool Playroom Magazine
Theme Recipes
Miss Muffet's Curds and Whey
In case you don't know, curds and whey is cottage cheese. You can just purchase some cottage cheese, if your kids will eat it, and talk about how that is what Miss Muffet was eating. If you want to make it into a bigger project, you can try the recipe below.
Ingredients: 2 cups milk and 3 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice.
Directions: Warm milk and vinegar or lemon juice in a saucepan over low heat. Stir slowly until the milk curdles (forms clumps). This usually takes 5 to 8 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat but keep stirring until the curdling stops. Curds are the milk solids that form lumps, and whey is the liquid. Pour off the liquid, then press the curds gently with paper towels to remove more liquid. At this point you can refridgerate the curds or eat them warm. Then will need salt and you can experiment with other flavorings or fruit just as you normally would with cottage cheese.
Spider Web Cake
Bake a round cake according to package directions. (I suggest that you don't stack the layers because it is just too messy for kids to eat. You can make two spider web cakes that way. Another alternative is to just bake your cake using a sheet pan. That is what I did.) Frost your cake with white frosting. Make 4 concentric circles on top of the cake using chocolate frosting so that it looks like a bull's eye. Starting at the center of the bull's eye, pull a dull knife through the frosting to the outer edge of the cake. Do this about 6-8 times, making sure to space each pull evenly around your bull's eye. This will create a spider web design on the cake. (You can also use decorating frosting that comes in tubes at the grocery store to make a spider web.) Add spiders to your "web" using gumdrops or any other candy you want. You can make this as simple or elaborate as you want. It also makes a great cake for a Halloween Party!
Ice Cream Spiders
Put a scoop of chocolate ice cream in the center of a bowl. Poke 8 pieces of black licorice along the side of the scoop to make the legs.
Theme Play
Pin the Spider On The Web: Just like the old "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" only make it a spider theme.
Other Theme Resources
Little Miss Muffet's Count-Along Surprise
Little Miss Spider
My First Real Mother Goose Board Book
The New Adventures of Mother Goose
Sylvia Long's Mother Goose
Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose EverOr Search Amazon for More Resources...
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