Why do spiders make webs?
Talk about it together
What shape would you make if you built a web between two plants?
What about...?
Ask your child's own question
Transcript
Why do spiders make webs? Let's wonder together!
A spider makes thin silk from its body and stretches it between leaves or branches. The silk makes a sticky net.
A tiny flying bug can get stuck on the sticky threads. The web shakes, and the spider can feel it.
The spider follows the shaking threads to find its food. Some spiders use webs as a cozy place to rest, too.
So that's why spiders make webs! Webs help many spiders catch food and have a place to rest.
For grown-ups: the science
Many spiders make webs to catch small bugs for food, and some rest in them too.
Spiders make silk from spinnerets on their abdomen. Orb-weaving spiders use sticky capture threads and non-sticky support threads; vibrations in the web help them locate trapped prey. Not all spiders build prey-catching webs, and webs may also provide shelter, egg protection, or a place to sense nearby activity.