This super easy project brought our nature table into fall. These nature spiders are made from sticks, and Osage orange fruits and a black walnut. The sticks are just jabbed into the fruit (do it outside because they leak juice) I hot glued the bent part of the leg, but you could easily skip that, have straight legs and not need any glue at all. The walnut is just set in front on the table.
It’s a testament to the crazy way my mind works that I was inspired to make these by a one of those blow up yard decorations… our neighbor got one and my kids were entranced. So I started to think about making a giant spider out of sticks (which might still happen) and then we walked past a bunch of Osage oranges on the ground and my brain immediately switched to Osage orange spiders (obviously…) as we were collecting our materials my 6 yr old came up with the walnut heads. 30 minutes later we had an army of neon green spiders!!
Osage oranges are ancient trees that produce huge neon green bumpy fruits that have a very particular smell said to repel flies. (I like the smell but not everyone does.) Animals will eat the fruit but it was apparently the main food source of a giant extinct sloth which only makes them more fascinating. My kids love to play with them. The best part is we can put them outside after Halloween and the squirrels eat them up!
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