Aside from trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins and bobbing for apples, what other activities can you have at your Halloween celebration? In addition to costume contests, try this spooky version of darts for your Halloween party. For this project, you’ll need several strong magnets as well as plenty of space to play.

Supplies:

Directions:

  1. First, you need to cut the cardboard into long, thin rectangles about 1-2 inches thick and long enough to fit inside the hoop. The hula hoop is going to be the outside of your spider’s web so you need to cut the cardboard into strips. You should have four long ones that fit the length of the hoop with a little to spare so you can tape them to the hoop. And anywhere from 16 to 24 small ones to connect in rings around the longer ones.
  2. Tape the cardboard pieces inside the hoop. The four long pieces should cross in the middle and attach in different places, evenly spaced around the edge of the hoop. Then the smaller pieces should fit within the longer ones so they form 2-3 rings within the hoop, using the longer ones as support like spokes on a wheel.
  3. Next, paint your cardboard and hula hoop white to resemble a creepy spider’s web.
  4. Now, glue one strong neodymium bar magnet in the center of the web and more bar magnets in random places on the back of the spider web. The magnets should be small enough to not be seen on the other side of the hoop.
  5. On the other side of the web, opposite the magnets draw little flies for your spiders to eat. You can have the flies mark where the magnets are.
  6. The final step is to create your spiders. For the spiders, you need neodymium disc magnets painted black. You can glue eyes onto them and pipe cleaners for legs.
When your paint is dry, your magnetic spider web game is ready to play! All you have to do is throw the spiders at the spider’s web. You can make your own rules, but essentially this game is similar to darts. You want to get your spider to the flies. Whoever helps their spider eat the most flies wins!   Remember to be careful when throwing your magnetic spiders. You should set up the game in an open space where no one will get hurt. When your Halloween party is over, you can use hook magnets to hang the spider web in your home and use it as a bulletin board!