Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids September 2015

Dear Spider, I love your cartoons. I go right to them. Please adopt this cat. Her name is Puffy. Lillian Ranney, age 6 East Greenwich, Rhode Island Dear Spider, I have a kitten named Birdy. She is only eight months old. Sometimes she gets really wild and knocks stuff over. I get a little nervous around dogs and cats. I go to my friend Ada’s house after school. She has two dogs and three cats, and I’m getting more used to them every day. Daisy T., age 7 Lansing, Michigan Dear Spider and Gang, I love your magazine. It is awesome! You buggies are awesome. Your crafts are awesome. I have a buggy like you. He is a Madagascar hissing cockroach. His name is Hissy. He likes to eat apples…

“WHAT’RE THOSE?” SHERWIN Winsher asked his friends Doodlebug and Dandelion Pinkley. They were headed into Pine Nut Elementary for the first day of the new school year. “They’re re-gifts,” Dandelion giggled. “For our new teachers. My mom wrapped them all nice for us.” “A re-gift,” Doodlebug said, “is something you got but never used, so you give it to someone else.” When Dandelion first told him about re-gifting, Doodlebug had thought it was cheesy. But he’d quickly realized he had a perfect re-gift for his new teacher: a good luck amulet in the shape of a long, strange, green-tinted face. The face had bushy eyebrows, bulging eyes, and a tongue that hung out like a wide, bumpy paddle. Doodlebug had ordered the amulet from an advertisement in his favorite magazine,…

Characters: GRANDPA, GRANDMA, CROW, SALLY Setting: Completely bare stage except for a sign that says "Welcome to Crickshaw. Population: 7" Props: two chairsa to-do lista crow mask (see page 36)a bella birthday crown ( GRANDPA and GRANDMA sit on chairs on one side of the stage, facing the audience.) GRANDPA: Crickshaw is a tiny town. Blink and you miss it. GRANDMA: But Crickshaw has been here for hundreds of years. Longer than Grandpa and I have been alive, if you can believe it. GRANDPA: Oh, stop it! GRANDMA: There’s only one post office in Crickshaw. GRANDPA: Only one grocery store. GRANDMA: Only one school. Only one teacher, only one child. GRANDPA: And only one crow. (Enter CROW , happy and chipper. He flits…

WOULD YOU LIKE a guard for your book when you’re not reading it? It’s easy to create a spider book-sitter that can mark your place and make your book the coolest one on the shelf. What You’ll Need: 12-inch by 1-inch ribbon, any color1-inch (25-mm) black bead12-inch black pipe cleaner¾-inch black pompom2 small googly eyescraft gluepaper clipscissorsmarker What to Do: 1. Thread the ribbon through the bead until the ribbon hangs evenly on both sides. 2. Glue the two halves of the ribbon together. Slide the paper clip onto the glued ribbon just below the bead. (The paper clip will hold the ribbon together until the glue dries.) 3. Cut the end of the ribbon into a V. 4. Cut the pipe cleaner into four 3-inch pieces. Push the pieces…

“IT’S APPLE DAY!” Molly thinks as she wakes one morning. A cool breeze tumbles down from the mountains, skims parched yellow grass, threads through town, and chills her toes. “Apple Day, Noah!” The big yellow dog sleeping on the floor perks up his ears. Noah loves Apple Days. Downstairs, the sauce bowl gleams on the kitchen table. Dad hauls the big, blackened pot out of the basement. Then he hands Molly a basket and chooses a wooden crate for himself. “Pick enough so we can share our sauce this year!” Mom calls from the door. Outside, the ground smells spicy. Molly and Dad’s boots dent a carpet of wet leaves. The apple orchard is a short walk away, over a field of goldenrod, under an old wooden fence. Molly knows…

What You’ll Need: 8–10 apples of your choiceknifelarge potsplash of water¼ cup brown or white sugarcinnamonpinch of nutmegoptional: peeler, corer, apple cider What To Do: 1. Ask an adult to help you wash, peel, core, and chop the apples. 2. Put the apples into a pot, along with a little water or apple cider (just enough to cover the bottom of the pot). 3. With an adult by your side, bring the apples to a simmer on the stove. Give them a stir now and then. 4. When the sauce starts to bubble, add sugar, nutmeg, and a few shakes of cinnamon. If you thought it smelled good before, you won’t believe how good it smells now! 5. Cool it just enough to taste, then serve it in bowls and…