Make your own spider web

Orb webs are just one of the many kinds of webs that spiders make. Their design provides a large catching area using the least amount of silk and time. Woven between shrubs and trees, these webs are difficult for flying insects to see and avoid. When insects fly into one of these webs and struggle to get out, they get stuck to the sticky droplets on the web’s spiral lines. Orb webs must be strong and elastic. After all, catching a fast flying insect in an orb web is like snaring a jet plane.

You will need:

• 3 wooden skewers
• a length of wool
• a piece of foam
• scissors

What to do:

1. Carefully push each skewer through the foam, like the spokes of a wheel, so that there is an equal length of skewer on each side.
2. Tie a small loop in one end of the wool and knot it to the base of one of the spokes, pushing it tightly against the foam.
3. Pull the wool to the next spoke and wrap it around, keeping the wool tight. Continue this from spoke to spoke, moving outwards from the centre like a spiral.
4. When you reach the outside end of the spokes, tie off the wool in a firm knot.
5. Your web should now be finished! If you want to put a spider in the middle, you can make one from Pipe cleaners or buy a plastic one and pin it to the foam.