Really?

Time for another episode of Liz's Pet Peeves. Fair warning - I'm going to nerd out.

These Halloween decorations drive me crazy and I mean CRAZY! 

Spiders, members of the arachnid class, are invertebrates; they have exoskeletons. They do not have endoskeletons. Octopuses* are mollusks - another invertebrate. Neither arachnids nor mollusks have backbones - or any bones for that matter.  And yet someone thought these decorations were a great idea. Sigh.

I realize that people shouldn't base their scientific knowledge on Halloween decorations, but little children see these before they are taught animal classification. A four or five year old isn't going to know any better when they see this and make an unconscious mental note. Which will then have to be untaught in the future. How about, instead, choosing animals that actually have skeletons.

And while we're at it, let's only include animal parts that are actually part of the skeleton! A chicken's comb, wattles and tail are not made up of bones. These actually kind of make me cringe. And I'd buy them. I'd have a whole bunch of them around my classroom if they were even remotely accurate. 

Ok, rant over...

*Yeah, I googled it just to makes sure I was correct.