Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2015 i Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids

Dear Spider, I love your cartoons. I go right to them. Please adopt this cat. Her name is Puffy. Lillian Ranney, age 6 East Greenwich, Rhode Island Dear Spider, I have a kitten named Birdy. She is only eight months old. Sometimes she gets really wild and knocks stuff over. I get a little nervous around dogs and cats. I go to my friend Ada’s house after school. She has two dogs and three cats, and I’m getting more used to them every day. Daisy T., age 7 Lansing, Michigan Dear Spider and Gang, I love your magazine. It is awesome! You buggies are awesome. Your crafts are awesome. I have a buggy like you. He is a Madagascar hissing cockroach. His name is Hissy. He likes to eat apples…

CROWS, CROWS EVERYWHERE: In the fields. On fence posts. Swarming over dumpsters. You may love them or hate them, but those brassy birds are hard to ignore. And why should we? Crows have been our constant companions throughout history. They obviously impressed our ancestors. Cave dwellers scratched images of crows on walls, and the ancient Chinese carved crow likenesses in stone. Countless myths and legends feature the noisy, raucous Crow in a starring role. Speaking of raucous, consider the crow’s voice. Unless you’re another crow, it’s hard to think of that “cawing” as singing. Yet they are classified as songbirds! They may not warble melodies, but crows can use their voices to imitate dogs barking, horns honking, and roosters crowing. They can even be taught to repeat human words, like…

“WHAT’RE THOSE?” SHERWIN Winsher asked his friends Doodlebug and Dandelion Pinkley. They were headed into Pine Nut Elementary for the first day of the new school year. “They’re re-gifts,” Dandelion giggled. “For our new teachers. My mom wrapped them all nice for us.” “A re-gift,” Doodlebug said, “is something you got but never used, so you give it to someone else.” When Dandelion first told him about re-gifting, Doodlebug had thought it was cheesy. But he’d quickly realized he had a perfect re-gift for his new teacher: a good luck amulet in the shape of a long, strange, green-tinted face. The face had bushy eyebrows, bulging eyes, and a tongue that hung out like a wide, bumpy paddle. Doodlebug had ordered the amulet from an advertisement in his favorite magazine,…

“IT’S APPLE DAY!” Molly thinks as she wakes one morning. A cool breeze tumbles down from the mountains, skims parched yellow grass, threads through town, and chills her toes. “Apple Day, Noah!” The big yellow dog sleeping on the floor perks up his ears. Noah loves Apple Days. Downstairs, the sauce bowl gleams on the kitchen table. Dad hauls the big, blackened pot out of the basement. Then he hands Molly a basket and chooses a wooden crate for himself. “Pick enough so we can share our sauce this year!” Mom calls from the door. Outside, the ground smells spicy. Molly and Dad’s boots dent a carpet of wet leaves. The apple orchard is a short walk away, over a field of goldenrod, under an old wooden fence. Molly knows…

This Month for Spider’s Corner: Draw a super cool school bus. Here are the only rules: 1. Your drawing should be on one page. 2. Your entry must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, authorizing its publication in print and/or online and saying it’s your own idea. 3. Be sure to include your complete name, age, and address. 4. Your drawing should arrive by September 25, 2015, so we can publish our favorites in the January 2016 Spider. Email your drawing to spider@cricketmedia.com, or mail to Spider’s Corner, P.O.Box 300, Peru, IL 61354. Farm Animal Sasha P., age 6 Virginia Beach, Virginia When cows talk it makes me laugh because they go moo, moo, moo. Mary Ellen Musson, age 6 Cleveland, Ohio Sheepdog I am a sheepdog. I…

Characters: GRANDPA, GRANDMA, CROW, SALLY Setting: Completely bare stage except for a sign that says "Welcome to Crickshaw. Population: 7" Props: two chairsa to-do lista crow mask (see page 36)a bella birthday crown ( GRANDPA and GRANDMA sit on chairs on one side of the stage, facing the audience.) GRANDPA: Crickshaw is a tiny town. Blink and you miss it. GRANDMA: But Crickshaw has been here for hundreds of years. Longer than Grandpa and I have been alive, if you can believe it. GRANDPA: Oh, stop it! GRANDMA: There’s only one post office in Crickshaw. GRANDPA: Only one grocery store. GRANDMA: Only one school. Only one teacher, only one child. GRANDPA: And only one crow. (Enter CROW , happy and chipper. He flits…

What You’ll Need: 8–10 apples of your choiceknifelarge potsplash of water¼ cup brown or white sugarcinnamonpinch of nutmegoptional: peeler, corer, apple cider What To Do: 1. Ask an adult to help you wash, peel, core, and chop the apples. 2. Put the apples into a pot, along with a little water or apple cider (just enough to cover the bottom of the pot). 3. With an adult by your side, bring the apples to a simmer on the stove. Give them a stir now and then. 4. When the sauce starts to bubble, add sugar, nutmeg, and a few shakes of cinnamon. If you thought it smelled good before, you won’t believe how good it smells now! 5. Cool it just enough to taste, then serve it in bowls and…