Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids May/June 2015

Dear Spider, I love your magazines! I know you’re a daredevil and I’m close to being one. Ophelia, last summer I saw you in my garden with an egg sack. Would you please adopt this butterfly? Her name is Lucy, and she only eats nectar. She said she knows Sam. She loves art. Emma Orban, age 7 Hamilton, Michigan Dear Spider, Thank you for your wonderful postcard! If you have not read the Harry Potter books I would recommend you read them! President Obama has read all seven! I have a joke for you: What do you call a cat that eats a lot of lemons? A sour puss! Did you know that people snore because of loose skin in the back of their throats? And there is a type…

“DAD, WHAT ARE you doing?!” Doodlebug Pinkley said, his eyes bulging. His father was standing on the little desk in his art studio, stomping around to some strange music. In one hand he was waving a stick with sparkly, spangly streamers. With the other hand he tossed a baton in the air. Startled, Mr. Pinkley missed the baton as it fell, and it went flying across the room. Choo-choo, the Pinkleys’ little Abyssinian cat, dove for cover. “Oh!” Mr. Pinkley blurted. “You aren’t supposed to see this, Doodlebug dearest! I’m still practicing.” “For what?” Doodlebug felt a flicker of dread. “Never you mind,” his father replied. “Now shooo!” Doodlebug frowned, closed the studio door, and rushed to find his sister, Dandelion. He streaked down the long, dim third-floor hall and…

MOTHER NATURE COULDN’T make anything as zany as these crazy carnations—but they’d make a perfect Mother’s (or Father’s) Day gift! What You’ll Need: fresh, white carnation with a long stem scissors water 2 small drinking glasses 2 different colors food coloring What to Do: 1. Starting from the very end of the stem, use scissors to carefully split the stem into two equal halves. Do NOT cut all the way through the flower. 2. Fill two glasses with water and add food coloring, one color per glass. More food coloring will result in darker colors on flower, so add as little or as much as you’d like. 3. Place each half stem into its own glass. You might have to lean the flower against a wall to help it remain…

MARGARITA SAT ON the porch rocker. Next to her lay a basket filled with cloth and trims. She was finishing the costume she would wear on Saturday for the Festival de Las Flores. She had been selected to be one of the cargadoras, dancers who carry palm branches covered with colorful flowers. The festival was always a special day, but this year it was even more so because the president of the United States, who was visiting her country, would be attending. Margarita knew she should be excited about the festival, but deep down she was sad. Her mamá had been so pleased when Margarita had been chosen as one of the dancers. As a girl, Mamá had also danced with a palm at the festival, and she had taught…

FATHERS COME IN all shapes and sizes. In the animal kingdom, fathers have some fascinating (and strange!) ways of helping their young. Some animal dads protect their babies. Some provide food. Some teach survival skills. Whatever their talents, the following fathers are fabulous! Suck Them Up and Spit Them Out Most fish do not live in family groups, but in the Red Devil Cichlid families of Central America, fathers help take care of their young. If a little one swims too far away, it’s his dad’s job to put him back into place. He gently grasps the wandering fish in his mouth and—aaapooey! He spits the young wanderer back with his brothers and sisters. Excuse Me, I’ve Got a Frog in my Throat If you were a Darwin’s frog father…

“HELP! HELP! I’M stuck in this jar and I can’t get out!” Annie looked up from her homework. Her younger brother Petey was sitting at the opposite end of the kitchen table, talking to a jar of dill pickles. “Who are you talking to?” Annie asked. “Look how squished they are in there,” Petey said. “If a pickle could talk, I’m sure it would beg me to let it out. Don’t you think?” “I think,” Annie said, “that I am doing my homework, and you are bothering me.” “Well, excuse me for trying to free a pickle,” Petey said, staring into the pickle jar. “Once you free it you are only going to eat it,” Annie said. “Maybe. But I do have a lovely stomach, very roomy and comfortable.” Annie…