Case 02 · Living things · Draft, not yet checked
Is a spider's house a strong house?
Print this Case File
Six A4 pages in black and white: one page for you, a cover to colour, then Inspire, Investigate (two pages), and Integrate and Impart. Choose the level by your child, not by age. Siblings can each have their own.
Explorer draws, circles, counts and says (often ages 4–7). Investigator predicts, tests, records and explains (often ages 7–11).
Finished the case?
The ayah: Surah Al-'Ankabut 29:41
مَثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّخَذُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَوْلِيَآءَ كَمَثَلِ ٱلْعَنكَبُوتِ ٱتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتًۭا ۖ وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ ٱلْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ ٱلْعَنكَبُوتِ ۖ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ
The parable of those who take protectors other than Allah is that of the spider, who builds (to itself) a house; but truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider's house;- if they but knew.
English: Abdullah Yusuf Ali
You will need
About 35 minutes · Craft things
- A paper plate and sticky tape (or wool)
- A small toy spider, or one cut from paper
- A small paper 'bug' to shelter
- A little water to sprinkle
The journey
- Inspire: Stick tape across a paper plate, sticky side up, to make a web.
- Investigate: Web detective · A spider's house or our house? · The shelter test
- Integrate: which name of Allah does it remind you of, and a small plan for the week.
- Impart: Show someone your sticky web. Tell them what a spider's house can't do.
For grown-ups: the science
Spiders make silk inside their bodies and spin webs to catch food. Many garden spiders build round webs with spokes and a spiral. Some threads are sticky and some are not, and the spider moves along the safe ones. A web is very good at catching insects, but it is a poor shelter: wind, rain and bigger animals break through it easily.
- • Orb-weaving spiders build webs with non-sticky spokes and a sticky capture spiral. Source: Britannica, “spider web”; Natural History Museum (London), spider pages. [still being checked]
- • Webs are often damaged by wind, rain and animals, and many spiders repair or rebuild them often. Source: Britannica, “spider”. [still being checked]