12 Activities for Teaching Charlotte’s Web

Cross-curricular ideas to celebrate Wilbur and Charlotte.

Best Charlotte's Web Activities

Teaching Charlotte’s Web is one of the highlights of an elementary teacher’s year. The characters are so endearing, and the language so beautiful. The story of friendship and kindness never gets old. Here are a few of our favorite Charlotte’s Web activities to make this year’s study extra special. 

1. Make baby spider parachutes.

Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Where the Magic Happens Teaching

Don’t you love the part of the story where Charlotte’s baby spiders fly off into the world? With this super fun STEM challenge using simple materials, students create parachutes to carry away their own baby spiders. 

2. Design a pigpen.

Another fun STEM challenge: Students team up to make a model of Wilbur’s pigpen or one of their own original design. Provide an assortment of materials such as popsicle sticks (small and large), cardboard, foil, tape, scissors, and straws and let your kids loose!

3. Make spider life cycle models.Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Book Units Teacher

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Charlotte’s Web provides a great opportunity to weave in a science unit of the life cycle of spiders. Using construction paper, yarn, cotton balls, and plastic spiders, students can create a colorful poster to display their learning. 

4. Brush up some watercolor resistant spider webs.

Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Let’s Lasso the Moon

This project combines art and science as students create a colorful textured spider web. Using a white oil pastel, draw the outline of a spider web. Next paint over and around the web with dark watercolor paint. While the paint is wet, sprinkle salt over the entire surface. Let it dry, then wipe off the salt. 

5. Squeeze out some glittery spider web window clings.

Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Kids Activities Woo!

Use a black Sharpie to draw a spider web on a sheet of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Then trace the shape with glue and sprinkle silver glitter on top. Allow the spider web to dry overnight, then carefully peel it off the surface. The sticky backside will adhere to the surface of your classroom window, allowing the sun to shine through the sparkling spokes of the web.

Also check out the adorable pig-ear headband and spider hat projects!

6. Go  farm bowling.

Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: One Extra Degree

One Extra Degree has created this fun math activity (only $1.50 on TPT) drawing on the barnyard theme. Using the downloadable mats, students roll two dice, multiply the numbers together, then use a bingo chip (their bowling ball) to cover the character (the bowling pin) with the corresponding number. The first one to knock down (cover up) all their pins wins!

7. Create a spider web word wall.Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Where the Magic Happens Teaching

Go all out with the Charlotte’s Web theme. Capture the beautiful and intriguing words you come across as you read the story together and display them in a gauzy spiderweb word wall. 

8. Design campaign posters to save Wilbur.

From this clever lesson by Bright Hub Education: “Your students aren’t spiders that can spin a web with a cool word in it, but they are creative and can make a campaign poster to save their favorite pig. Ask them to pay close attention to their word choice and to choose different words than E.B. White did in Charlotte’s Web.” 

9. Make “about me” spiders.Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: STEAM Powered Family

Encourage your students to tap into their inner Templeton the rat! Students will collect scraps of paper with interesting words from magazines and newspapers that describe who they are. Then they will use the words to construct their own personalized spider.

10. Create a comic strip version of the story.

Students will dive deep into the characters, setting, and plot of Charlotte’s Web to create their own unique graphic novel version of the story. Check out the full lesson from Scholastic here. What a fun way to check for comprehension.

11. Award classroom character prizes.
Charlotte's Web activities

SOURCE: Where the Magic Happens Teaching

We all love to be celebrated! Pull some of the interesting words from the story, and maybe add a few descriptors of your own, to create first prize ribbons for everyone in your class.

12. Hold your own fair.

Another great idea from Kids Activities Woo! Hold your own version of a county fair right in your classroom. Students can bring in their pets (or pictures of their pets) or favorite stuffed animal pets. Each student will fill out an information form on the breed, care, etc., of their pet. Then invite students from other classes to rotate through to view the pets and ask questions. Assign a few students to be judges and let them award ribbons for special categories like “longest tail” or “furriest.”

What are your favorite Charlotte’s Web activities? Come share in our Facebook group WeAreTeachers Chat.

Also, check out 12 Activities for teaching The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

12 Activities for Teaching Charlotte's Web