If you Want to See a Grass Spider

On late summer and early fall mornings, my lawn is covered by a patchwork of grass spider webs. They're secretive - hiding in their funnels until a hapless insect gets tangled in their web. Then quick-as-a-flash! The grass spider hustles from one end of the web to the other to snag dinner and then it's back into the hole.

The other day I managed to catch one out on the web. It took some waiting... but the spider came out to check on some web movement. They're about the size of wolf spiders, but very shy.

If you want to see a grass spider, you have to be patient. Walk slowly. When you see one poking its head out, sit and wait. And wait. And wait some more.

Things to do while Waiting for a Grass Spider:

• sketch its web 
• make a map of all the webs - how close are they to each other? 
• what sorts of insects walk over the grass spider web?
• how big is a web? 
• is it square like a quilt patch?
• what kinds of things get caught in the web?

 Welcome to STEM Friday. You can find more resources on the STEM Friday blog.