Until now the girls have wanted nothing to do with monster play. Whether for Halloween or anytime they just didn’t want to hear anything about monsters. That changed recently, and they seem to find a little silliness in the idea of monsters with weird features and outlandish characteristics. I thought I’d build on that with a few simple monster-inspired play ideas. This invitation to create monster art was the first activity we tried.
FIND EVEN MORE MONSTER THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.
Materials for Monster Art Invitation
Go through your craft materials and you’ll probably find a ton of materials that would work well for this invitation. Below is the list of materials we chose.
- Chenille stems (We found these ones in the dollar bin area at JoAnn.)
- Googly eyes in assorted colors and designs
- Yarn in various lengths
- Colored straws cut into smaller pieces
- Pom poms in assorted sizes and colors
The focus of this activity was the creative process, not creating a product to display. Instead of using paper as the background for our creations we used a mirror as our canvas. The girls used the materials to create monster faces right on the mirrors. They also got a lot of giggles from looking into the mirror and aligning the “monster” faces with their own facial features.
And each one of their creations was unique.
This is also a fun activity for toddlers and preschoolers learning about facial features. Discuss which features each monster has and identify which features are the same as human facial features and which are different.
When you’re finished for the day, put your materials back in the tray. Then leave it out to inspire more creative play again sometime soon. We also used many of these materials in our next creative invitation. I’ll be sharing more about that soon!
PRINTABLE MONSTER THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
The full Monster Theme Lesson Plan Pack also includes:
1) Monster Calendar (or general number) Cards
2) Uppercase Monster Letter Cards
3) Lowercase Monster Letter Cards
4) Color Matching Monster Mats and Activity Pieces
5) Counting Monster Mats (1-10)
6) Roll and Count Monster Math Game Boards (6 versions)
7) Feed the Monster Templates
8) Monster Munchies Beginning Sound Cards
9) Number Cubes (6 versions) for Monster Math Activities
10) Roll-A-Monster Creative Art Activity Pieces and Game Cube
11) Monsters’ Healthy Choices Recording Sheet
12) Monster Hourse Beginning Sound Sort
13) Monster Number Cards(0-35)
14) Where Do Monsters Live Book Making Guide and Printable Pages
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Home Preschool Monster Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Monster Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Lindsay
Where do you find the separated tray?
Shaunna
Hi Lindsay,
Our specific divided trays are from the seasonal housewares section at Walmart. They are “technically” fruit and veggie trays. You’ll often find a selection at Dollar Tree as well. However, over the years I’ve seen many other stores carry them in their housewares sections. If you are outside of the US, then you might try looking for vegetable trays in the housewares or dishware section of your local stores.
Thanks for reading!
Natasha
We don’t do mirror play often but we do enjoy it when we do. I like the monsters.
Emma
I love activities on mirrors – it just adds a whole new dimension!