Search

Spider Children’s Books for Elementary Teachers in 2025

October is a great time to discuss and explore spiders, but really you can do this any time of the year. This post shares spider children’s books that you can use for this purpose. All of the picture books on this list lend themselves to this topic really well. Take a peek below to learn more about these spider children’s books!

spider read alouds

5 Spider Children’s Books

Below is a list of some of our favorite spider children’s books to share with elementary students. They are part of our Spider Book Companion Bundle. Check them out!

1. Diary of a Spider by Brenda J. Child

The book, Diary of a Spider, follows the life of Spider over the course of a few months. Spider does many things that children do. He spends time with his parents, grandparents, and siblings. He also goes to school, learns new things, and spends time with his friends. 

Spider goes to sleepovers, the park, and learns many things from his Grampa. Spider has a good friend named Fly and stands up for her no matter what. At the end of the story, Spider writes that he wishes people wouldn’t judge spiders before they get to know them.

Check out these Diary of a Spider teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!

Diary of a Spider book cover Diary of a Spider activity
LEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIESLEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIES

2. Anansi The Spider by Gerald McDermott

Anansi the Spider is a West African folktale that takes place in Ghana. It tells the story of Anansi the spider and his six sons who each have a different skill. One day, Anansi wanders too far from home and runs into trouble.

Anansi’s sons sense the trouble and use their skills to save Anansi. They work together as a team and each use their special skill set. 

That night, Anansi finds a mysterious and beautiful globe and decides he will give it to the son who saved him. Until him and his sons decide who that is, he gives the globe to Nyame, the god of everything, to hold on to. 

Anansi and his sons cannot stop arguing over who the globe should go to. Nyame takes the globe and puts it into the sky to stay forever, creating the moon.

Check out these Anansi the Spider teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!

Anansi the Spider book cover Anansi the Spider activity
LEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIESLEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIES

3. I’m Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton

The story, I’m Trying to Love Spiders, is about the author trying to learn how to love spiders. The author starts off as scared of spiders and wanting to squish any spider she sees. Throughout the story, the author learns interesting facts about spiders and slowly starts to like spiders. This story might change your students’ opinions of spiders, too!

Check out these I’m Trying to Love Spiders teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!

I'm Trying to Love Spiders book cover I'm Trying to Love Spiders activity
LEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIESLEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIES

4. The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and Tony Diterlizzi

The story, The Spider and Fly, is about a cunning spider who is trying to trick Fly into his web. Spider tries many things to get Fly into his web. He says that he has a pretty parlor, that he cares for Fly, that he wouldn’t harm Fly, and serves her a meal. Through it all, Fly doesn’t let herself be tricked into his web. 

However, Spider doesn’t give up and eventually starts giving Fly lots of compliments. He is finally about to trick her into his web and Fly learns an important lesson about not being vain.

Check out these The Spider and the Fly teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!

The Spider and The Fly book cover The Spider and The Fly activity
LEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIESLEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIES

5. The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

One morning, a spider gets blown across a field by the wind and lands on a fence post near a farm. She starts to build her web between two fence posts and works hard on staying focused.

Many animals on the farm come up to the spider and ask her if she wants to play with them. Each time, the spider keeps working on her web because she is very busy.

At the end of the story, the spider finishes building her web and catches a pesky fly in it. The spider falls asleep because she had a very busy day.

Check out these The Very Busy Spider teaching resources and activities to help you plan and deliver highly engaging read aloud lessons!

The Very Busy Spider book cover The Very Busy Spider activity
LEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIESLEARN MORE | GET THE ACTIVITIES

Get All of the Spider Book Activities!

Scoop up all of the activity packets based on the picture books featured in this post!

Or Get All of the Activity Packets for 600+ Picture Books!

Starts with a Story is a collection of hundreds of book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Each book companion includes:

  • reading comprehension questions with sample student responses
  • 30 writing prompts targeting 10 different types of writing
  • SEL lesson ideas based on character and events from each story
  • printable student activities
  • editable teaching slides with book-based clipart
  • and more.

Learn how to get unlimited access to all 600+ book companion packets below!

Starts With a Story Collection

Teachers Love these Other Spider Activities for Kids

We have lots of spider activities you can use in your classroom. Check out the blog post Spider Activities for Kids to get more ideas and teaching resources!

spiders picture books spiders color by code activity spider would you rather activities
LEARN MORE | BUY NOWLEARN MORE | BUY NOWLEARN MORE | BUY NOW
all about spiders thematic literacy unit ideas spider unit spider reading reading activities
LEARN MORE | BUY NOWLEARN MORE | BUY NOWLEARN MORE | BUY NOW

One Last Thing Before You Go… Grab this Free Reading Resource!

If you want to get more book ideas to read aloud to your elementary students, then grab this reading freebie for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom teachers. It includes:

  • seasonal read aloud books lists for teachers
  • printable reading logs to track students’ reading
  • monthly reading challenges to motivate students to read more

It will have you covered for the entire school year, as well as the summer months! Grab this free elementary reading packet now!

printable monthly reading logs

In closing, we hope you found this list of spider children’s books helpful! If you are a member of Starts With a Story, you have access to all of these book companion activities. Lastly, you may also be interested in these fall books for kids if you love read alouds like us!

Share it:
Email
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter

Get an Entire Packet of Book Companion Activities for FREE!

The Recess Queen book cover
Try this free Starts With a Story book companion based on Alexis O'Neill's picture book, The Recess Queen!