Monsters! Monster Shapes

We're getting a lot of mileage out of our googly eyes this week. To make these cute (and oh so educational) shape monsters, all we needed was craft foam shapes, googly eyes, and lots and lots of glue.

A is never happier than when she's squeezing glue out onto something in copious amounts. Googly eyes were just a nice bonus.

With this one little activity we worked on our fine motor control, discussed the shapes and colors of the monsters, counted each of their eyes and talked about which eyes were bigger and smaller. Not bad for 50 cents worth of craft materials!

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley

The Emberleys have a whole series of monster books out, but this was the one I could get my hands on. I'm so glad I did! Ingenious die cutting on each page makes this book such fun to read. As you turn each page a monster slowly appears, revealing his big yellow eyes and sharp white teeth through the die cuts on the page. Half way through the book you yell "You don't scare me!" and the subsequent pages hide each of the features until he's disappeared.

I fell in love with The Very Hungry Caterpillar at age 4 because of the die cuts in the book. I can only imagine how much I would have loved this one. My girls certainly do!

I'm linking up to:
- Play Academy @ Nurture Store
- Show & Tell @ ABC & 123
- Tot Tuesday @ My Delicious Ambiguity

Monsters! Cyclops Visor Craft

Inspired by this visor on Makes & Takes, I created a Cyclops Visor for my own little monsters.

Foam visors would probably fit better and are easy enough to find, but I happened to be at Target today, and they had these black plastic ones in the dollar spot. All it took was a little craft foam, a really random scrap of fuzzy fabric, and a hot glue gun!

Both girls enjoyed wearing it around and growling at me (of course, because what else does a monster say?).

Jeremy Draws a Monster  by Peter McCarty

Jeremy is a child recluse who never goes outside but loves to draw. One day he draws a monster who immediately begins to demand more and more things: a sandwich, a television, a hotdog, a hat. Exhausted, Jeremy is glad when the monster decides to go out, but is quickly disappointed when the monster soon returns. This time, Jeremy takes matters into his own hands and escorts the monster out of the building. Stepping outside, a group of children invite him to play.

The story is quirky to say the least, but it's the illustrations that sold me on this book. McCarty's drawings are sparse but expressive, and make excellent use of the white space on the page. His monster is not scary, but rather comical, particularly when he dons his huge purple hat. Older preschoolers will enjoy this understated story in the tradition of Harold and the Purple Crayon.

I'm linking up to:
- SOYS @ Fireflies & Jellybeans

Monsters! Easy Monster in a Bag

He's squishy, he's green, and he watches you everywhere you go. Meet Mike Wasowski's creepier cousin!

A snack-sized ziplock bag, some light corn syrup, green food coloring, and googly eyes are all you need to create a oozing creature of your own.

Pictures don't adequately capture how unnerving it is to have all those eyes shift at you while you squish this little guy.

I don't take chances when it comes to corn syrup. He's packing-taped shut and double bagged to protect against escape!

My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck

Remember I Love My Pirate Papa? Leuck has another book, this time with a Monster Mama! The illustrations are just as adorable as the pirate version and contain the same charming rhymes. The monster baby in the story tells us all the wonderful things his monster mama does for him, like comb the cobwebs out of his hair and protect him from the "scary things" (a.k.a. kids!).

Pirate Papa was A's favorite of the pirate books we brought home, and she's already taken to carrying this one around the house... and the yard. You can't ask for a better endorsement!