Our elf took a shortcut across the chair. Unfortunately, someone had already opened a spiderweb there. 🕸️
Now he is sitting behind the strands with his mittens caught up in the mess. A little paper spider seems quite pleased with the new Christmas decoration.
This funny elf idea turns a dining chair into a silly trap. The spider can be as friendly and wonky as you like, with big paper eyes and floppy legs.
What you’ll need:
- One official Elf on the Shelf doll (paid link)
- A chair with suitable rails
- White craft yarn (paid link) or cotton string
- Plain craft card (paid link)
- Scissors, a pen and a little tape
- A small cloth for support and paper for a note
Setup:
Sit your elf securely on the chair seat, leaning against the back or a folded cloth. Tie a few yarn strands between the chair rails in front of him, then add connecting strands to suggest a web. Keep the yarn loose around the mittens and well away from his neck; the chair supports the doll, rather than the yarn. Cut an oval spider body from black card and add eight short paper legs with two white eyes. Place the spider on the seat beside your elf and attach a “Wrong shortcut!” note to the web. Leave the face clear so the children can see who has been caught. A few crossing strands are enough to tell the story, so this needn’t become a complicated knotting project.
Make it cheaply:
Use leftover yarn, ordinary string or thin strips of scrap paper. A hand-drawn spider on a cereal-box offcut works perfectly. If the chair has no suitable rails, make a web inside an empty cardboard box and sit your elf behind it, supported by the box. The funny shortcut note brings the scene together even with a very simple web.
Try the indoor kite tangle or the paper-chain factory for another elf scene.
