Shortly after we moved into our house, about 10 years ago, my son was bitten on the leg by a brown recluse spider.  It was very scary, and he still has a significant scar to prove it.  Fortunately, he didn’t come out of it with a huge spider phobia because we have LOTS of them living here with us.  Our most recent phenomenon is clusters of daddy longlegs (with a leg span about the width of my hand), parking it together in one spot and staying there for about a month.  This is a small group – some of the larger clusters are at least ten times this size.

Given everything I just told you, you can probably imagine why I find spiders pretty creepy.  With Halloween coming up, creepy is the goal, so I’m going to show you how to make some easy eight-legged creatures that won’t bite anyone.

All you need to make one of these is two jingle bells and two pipe cleaners.  You’ll want bells that are on the larger side, as you have to be able to fit 4 pipe cleaner pieces through the hole.  I also made one using regular wire, which is why it’s shown here.

Cut your two pipe cleaners in half, so you have four pieces.

Slide the pipe cleaner through the hole in the first bell, then on through the second.

Repeat with the other three pipe cleaners, then slide both bells together in the middle.

Spread the legs out, bending close to the bells.  This will help hold the bells in place and give it the spider shape.

Bend the legs down in the middle to make your spider stand.

I made a few more, with different sizes of legs and bodies.  Not exactly scary though, are they?

So, I tried one with regular, non-fuzzy wire.  He’s a little higher on the Halloween scale.

To make this one, cut four pieces of wire, each 6 inches long and one extra piece, about 2 inches long.  Feed the four longer pieces through the bells as above.

Because they don’t have the fuzz of the pipe cleaners, the wire needs a little extra support to stay in place.  Bend the small piece in the middle.  Wrap around the wire and base of the bells and twist.  Tuck the end between the two bells.

Bend the legs into a spider shape.  I also gave this one some little feet.

I sat Spidey down on the table next to my son while he was doing his homework.  I think if he would have had anything in his hand besides a pencil, my spider would be flat.