Make a 3D Peacock Spider pattern art craft. The finished spider wiggles and dances with the help of his movable abdomen tab.
This is a fun and educational STEAM activity, perfect for kids learning about minibeasts—or maybe they really love spiders (some people do!)
Have you heard of the Peacock Spider? It’s a species of jumping spider, found in various parts of Australia (there are close to 100 known subtypes), named for the peacock-like mating dance performed by the male with his colourful, patterned abdomen.
These arachnids are the approximate size of a grain of rice, so even if you walked straight past one, it’s unlikely you’d notice it. I never have, and they supposedly live in my area.
So for the record, here’s a stock photo of an actual Peacock Spider …
What a cutie!
The printable template includes an option to colour instead of patterning if you want a more realistic-looking spider.
To make your spider dance, move the wiggle tab below the leaf from side to side.
The female is bland in comparison to the male with no patterning. She doesn’t need it—she’s a total badass. If the male’s mating dance isn’t good enough for her, she’s likely to eat him. Even if he impresses her enough to mate, she may still get him afterwards. If she does, his body is woven into the egg sac as nutrition for their young, so in a way, Dad still takes care of his babies.
Cardstock is necessary for this activity. You’ll also need a brad clip for the wiggle tab.
Age suggestion: 8+, this craft is not recommended for younger kids.
Here are over 40 Pattern Art Projects for Kids
How to make a 3D Peacock Spider
You will need:
- White card stock – 2 sheets per spider
- Green card stock for leaf (or use white and colour the leaf) – one sheet for every 2 spiders
- Coloured card stock for background – one sheet per spider
- Glue stick
- Markers and optional fine liner pens for pattern details
- Brad clips (split pins)
- Skewer and a piece of scrap cardboard
- The Peacock Spider template, available from our printables store and TPT store
How to:
Print either the blank spider abdomen or the detailed spider abdomen and spider legs to white. Print the leaf to green
Colour or decorate the spider parts and leaf with pattern art.
Cut the shapes out.
Glue the back legs to the background sheet in spaces marked with dotted lines.
Place your cardboard scrap behind your background sheet and use a skewer to poke a hole where marked. Also make a hole in the tab on the spider’s abdomen (this makes the brad clip easier to use on card stock). Fasten the abdomen into place with a brad clip.
Fold the tabs on the front leg base and glue each front leg in place. The feet should be pointing outward.
Fold the support tab along marked lines. Fold the jaws and glue this to the back of the support tab. Fold the head and glue this to the back of the jaws tab.
Glue the front legs to the front of the support piece so the folded jaws sit nicely in the middle.
Glue the support piece into place on the backing sheet. The tabs match up to the marked spaces on top of the back legs. You need to lift the abdomen wiggle tab slightly to do this.
Fold the tabs on the leaf and glue it in place.
These spiders are tiny, but they still deserve to be celebrated! Especially the beautiful and selfless dancing dads.
More Minibeast STEAM Crafts for Kids
- Explore positive and negative space with this Positive/Negative Insect doodle Art activity
- Make realistic paper model insects with anatomy labels with this bundle of four printable templates (also available separately)
- This 3D Doodlebug on a Leaf makes eye-catching wall art
See all our pattern art projects here
