Monsters can be a hot topic among preschoolers- you either find them peculiar and love them, or they make you shriek! But monsters don’t have to be scary. They can be quirky, cute, and even silly. Whether your imagination creates a monster with a dozen eyes or four arms, monsters always seem to spark creativity! Here are some fabulous monster theme preschool activities and resources for planning your preschool monster theme. Most of these activities are designed for kids ages 3 through 5, but many can be modified for younger and older kids as well.
WHY IT’S FUN
Imaginations can run wild as children envision their monster with three eyes and one leg, a dozen arms, or an extra long neck. A preschool monster theme encourages creativity and can provide lots of fun hands-on imaginative ways to practice skills such as counting, colors, shapes, and math.
WHEN TO TEACH A MONSTER THEME
We like to explore a monster theme throughout October as Halloween approaches. February can also be a fun time to teach a monster theme as you can tie them into “love monsters.” The fun thing about a monster theme is you can really use it any time of year!
TEACHING TIPS & MAJOR CONCEPTS KIDS WILL LEARN
If you’re planning a preschool monster theme there are many possibilities for incorporating meaningful early learning skills.
These are just some of the concepts kids can learn about during a monster theme:
- counting
- colors
- sorting
- fictional characters
- comparing and contrasting
You can also use pom poms or googly eyes as manipulatives for many learning activities to teach math and literacy concepts.
ITEMS TO COLLECT AND REQUEST IN ADVANCE
If you get parents, friends, and family involved you can enrich the experience kids have during your preschool monster theme.
Collect or ask people to help you collect:
- googly eyes
- pom poms
- play dough
- straws
- chenille stems
- pipe cleaners
PRINTABLE MONSTERS 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.
RELATED MONSTER PRINTABLES
Inside the 29-page Shape Monster Process Art set you’ll get:
- Complete list of material suggestions
- Full directions for using both sets of shape art templates
- 10 extension activities, including math and literacy, to help you teach additional skills and concepts using your kids’ creations
- Shape Set with Title and Borders
- Plain Shape Set for Cutting Out Monster Shapes
- Sorting Cards for Math Whole Group and Small Group Activities
- Class Book Cover Template
INDIVIDUAL MONSTER ACTIVITY IDEAS ON FANTASTIC FUN AND LEARNING
Here on Fantastic Fun and Learning we’ve shared the following ideas to go along with a preschool monster theme.
Invite children to create their own play dough monsters with play dough and loose parts.
Grab some loose parts and a coffee filter and let kids craft their own creative monster face.
Kids will love pretending to be monsters with these cute monster headbands.
Get those creative juices flowing and create some silly monster faces out of recycled parts.
Display these illuminating monster craft jars throughout the season for some not-so-scary decor.
Flex those fine motor fingers while creating monster faces with loose parts on a mirror. Comparing the silly monster faces with your own is the fun part!
Assemble a monster discovery sensory bottle and invite children to sift it around to discover hidden letters, numbers, or colors!
Create shape monster art using our shape printable and loose parts. Kids will have a blast creating the silliest looking shape monsters around!
MORE MONSTER THEME PRESCHOOL ACTIVITIES FROM CREATIVE EDUCATORS
We’ve compiled a monstrous list of some fun monster crafts for kids that we’ve found over the years.
YOUTUBE SONGS
This cute and catchy Brush Your Teeth song from Super Simple Songs features silly monsters brushing their teeth.
Sing along with cute little monsters as they count how many fingers and toes they have. Kids will be engaged clapping, counting, and sing along with Super Simple Songs.
The Itsy Bitsy Monster is sung along to the familiar tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Kids will learn about healthy food choices and habits from the hungry monster.
Shake out some sillies and get moving to the Freeze Dance by Kiboomers, featuring some cute little monsters to skip, hop, twirl, and dance with.
Sing along with Sesame Street and some of their monsters and friends as you learn letters and beginning sounds.
OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
Finger plays and action rhymes are a great addition to your preschool themes. Here are a few terrific options to go along with a leaf theme.
Preschool Education has a monstrous list of fun and engaging monster themed songs and rhymes. Many are sung to familiar tunes.
Preschoolers will love singing and stomping their feet to the Noisy Monster Song. Let’s Play Music provides the familiar instrumental to Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush to sing along with.
If you’d like to supplement your hands-on learning with some online games you might try:
Play some monster music with Abby Cadabby and her friends at PBS Kids.
Join Grover the monster and play Grover’s rhyme time game to practice rhyming words with PBS Kids.
Play monster mansion match with this fun matching game from ABCya.
FAVORITE MONSTER BOOKS
There are a ton of wonderful books to read for your monster theme. Below are some of our favorite picture books for a monster theme.
MORE MONSTER BOOKS
Here are some of our favorite books to read about monsters with kids.
OTHER PROPS AND TEACHING TOOLS
Reinforce learning with these hands-on materials for your monster theme. They can be used for sensory bins, crafts, and learning activities.
FREE PRINTABLES
Help children practice cutting as they use their scissor skills to create “hair” for their colorful monsters in this free printable fine motor monster craft.
With these free monster printable number cards from Fun-A-Day, kids can practice one-to-one correspondence as they count and add googly monster eyes to a “slimy” sensory bag.
Create a monster book with children using this free “Where do Monsters Live” printable book from Fun-A-Day. Children will combine art with color recognition in this fun literacy activity.
WHAT NEXT?
As you wrap up your monster theme preschool activities take note of what the kids were most interested in throughout the theme. Continue on by investigating one of those concepts more in depth. Below are some of our favorite Halloween theme lesson plans. Click on the image to learn more.
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