For teachers

Lesson plan: «Itsy bitsy araña»

Children do the finger and hand actions of «Itsy bitsy araña» (the Spanish “Itsy Bitsy Spider”): the spider climbing, the rain coming down, the sun coming out, and talk about rain, sun and trying again.

Ages: Ages 1–5
Time: 20 minutes
Areas: Movement and the body · Language and communication · The natural and social world

Opening

Show the spider and ask: «¿Dónde viven las arañas? ¿Qué hacen?» (“Where do spiders live? What do they do?”). Welcome every idea.
Teach the climbing-spider action: touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other and twist your hands upward. Practice it slowly.
Watch the video once, together, and notice what happens when the rain comes and when the sun comes out. Then turn the screen off.

Main activity

Sing the chorus slowly, without the video: the spider climbs on your fingers, on «vino la lluvia» (“the rain came”) the fingers come down like raindrops, on «salió el sol» (“the sun came out”) the arms make a circle and on «otra vez subió» (“climbed up again”) the spider climbs again.
Use the pictures: show the clouds on «vino la lluvia» (“the rain came”) and the sun on «salió el sol» (“the sun came out”), and let the group say what comes next.
On «Cinco amigos en el jardín» (“Five friends in the garden”), wiggle all five fingers «así, así» (“like this, like this”) and lift your hands to the beat.
On «Las nubes llegan por aquí» (“The clouds come over here”), make raindrops with your fingers over your head, and wake up with a big smile on «El sol sonríe al despertar» (“The sun smiles as it wakes up”).
Sing the last chorus a little faster and then very slowly.

Closing

To wind down, whisper the chorus, with the spider climbing very slowly until it falls asleep.
Talk about it: «¿Qué hizo la araña cuando la lluvia se la llevó?» (“What did the spider do when the rain washed it away?”). Talk about trying again, like the little spider.
Have children draw the spider climbing its web, with the rain or with the sun.

Materials

Everyone’s hands
A picture or a stuffed toy of a spider
A picture of rain clouds and one of the sun
Paper and crayons

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What to observe

Does the climbing-spider action, even if the fingers don’t meet quite right yet.
Brings the fingers down like raindrops on «vino la lluvia» (“the rain came”) and makes the circle on «salió el sol» (“the sun came out”).
Copies the hand movements in time with the song.
Says what comes next, the rain or the sun, with or without the pictures.

Adaptations

With 1-year-olds, sing it with the child on your lap: the adult’s spider climbs slowly up the child’s arm, the rain tickles and the sun is a hug.
For children who don’t speak yet or who use AAC, the rain and sun pictures are their support: they can point to the one that comes next.
For children who can’t bring their fingers together yet, the spider can climb with the whole hand, walking the fingers up the arm or across the table.
Make up other obstacles for the spider with the group’s ideas (the wind, a leaf) and how it climbs up again.

For families

Ask families to sing «Itsy bitsy araña» at home on rainy days and let their child make the spider with their fingers.

If you teach Spanish as a new language

Many students know “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”: the Spanish song has the same actions, so the gestures carry the meaning from the first round.
Teach the key words with gestures (TPR): «araña» (spider), «la lluvia» (the rain), «el sol» (the sun), «subió» (climbed up).
Ask «¿Qué viene: la lluvia o el sol?» (“What comes next: the rain or the sun?”) and let students answer with the gesture or the word.

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards: Communication (interpretive and interpersonal), Cultures (a traditional game is a cultural practice; the song, a cultural product) and Comparisons (Spanish sounds and words next to your students’ languages).

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