Fulfills Step 4 of GSUSA Bugs badge requirements.
Info Needed for Badge Requirements: Bug homes keep insects safe, help them find food, and protect their young. Homes can be made from silk, mud, leaves, or hidden places like soil or wood. Bugs use them to rest, raise eggs, or trap prey.
Items Needed:
- Computer or laptop
- Projector or screen for group viewing
- Internet access
- 1–2 time-lapse videos showing spider webs over several days
- Optional: paper and pencils for noting observations
Instructions (Total Estimated Time: 35 minutes):
- Watch First Time-Lapse Video (10–12 minutes)
- Play a video showing a spider web change over several days
- Pause occasionally to let scouts point out web changes, food caught, or spider movement
- Share Observations (5–6 minutes)
- Scouts discuss what they noticed in the web over time
- Encourage ideas like what the spider worked on, damage repaired, or changes in shape
- Watch Second Time-Lapse Video (10–12 minutes)
- View a video of a different spider species building or changing its web
- Scouts compare the first web to the second one
- Reflect and Wrap-Up (5–6 minutes)
- Scouts share how the two webs were different or alike
- Optional: scouts draw one change they found interesting or name something they learned about webs
Spider Web Time Lapse Videos
Most spider web time-lapse videos only show a few hours or overnight changes, but there are a couple that hint at longer-term web activity or rebuilding:
- Spider Web Building Time-lapse | BBC Earth – Shows a garden orb spider building and using its web, with some footage suggesting changes over time WARNING: It catches a fly at the end.
- Spider Building and Rebuilding a Web | Britannica – Educational video showing a spider building, devouring, and rebuilding its web—perfect for learning how webs evolve.
- Spider Making Its Web | Nerdist Article – Highlights a TikTok series where an orb spider builds and dismantles its web daily, offering insight into multi-day behavior
While these don’t span a full week, they’re great for showing how webs evolve and how spiders maintain them.
The Badge Archive 