I had sooooooo much fun doing this monster art project in my son Elliot’s kindergarten class recently! I chose to do this project because Elliot LOVES monsters and he LOVES using his imagination to make characters come to life. We have enjoyed using popsicle stick puppets for many many years and he always enjoys both creating his monsters and using his imagination to play with them later.
For this project, I wanted to guide the children in using details to create their monsters with texture. I made this dice game to give the project a fun aspect that would give them a variety of options.
Monster Art Lesson Objective
Materials
- Jumbo Popsicle Sticks
- Magnets
- Hot Glue Gun and More Glue Sticks
- Card Stock Paper
- Printer
- Paper Cutter
- Glue or Glue Sticks (I prefer glue for this project.)
- Texture Supplies
- Googly Eyes
- Yarn (It’s nice to have a bunch of yarn lined up in the same direction to use for hair, etc.)
Yarn Strips
- Foam Paper
- Texture Scissors
- Cotton Balls
- Colored Construction Paper
- Sequins
- Buttons
Directions
- Introducing the Monster Art Project: I always like to start by showing children what my version of the final product looks like. That way, when I start explaining all of the steps, they will understand what the big picture will be. Also, by first doing the project myself, I have a good understanding of what things were easy and what things were more challenging. 🙂 So first I showed the children my monster popsicle puppets, we talked about what texture was, and I explained that adding details makes any project more interesting.
Monster Popsicle Stick Puppets
- Guided Practice with the Create a Monster Dice Game: It is so tempting to just give directions and launch right into independent practice, but by starting any new skill, lesson, or project together with guidance, children will have a much deeper understanding of what they can do. (Download the game here.) To start this project, I rolled a die and had children follow along with me as we created our first monster together. For the next monster, I rolled the die again, but let them choose to either follow me or choose their own. After that, they created one or two more monsters on their own.
- Coloring the Monsters: After everyone had drawn their monsters, I handed out my monster templates. One set of templates has features missing and the other set is completed monsters that I had drawn earlier. It was nice to be able to give children a variety of entry points into the project. One aspect was drawing their own monsters, but with the other aspect of adding texture, I wanted to give them a variety of more completed options.
Monster Templates with Missing Feature
Completed Monsters Coloring Page
Monsters Colored In
- Adding Texture: It was so wonderful to see what the children added for their texture pieces. Some really wanted to copy the ideas I showed them (like unrolling cotton balls to put under the feet like smoke or adding tufts of hair using the yarn), and others really thought outside the box, especially with the foam pieces and texture scissors. One thing I didn’t do but think kids would have really enjoyed is to offer colored squares of construction paper that they could use to cut out for the shape of the body.
Texture Supplies
- Popsicle Sticks: I used a hot glue gun to attach a magnet to the back of each popsicle stick so that children could keep their monster popsicle sticks on the fridge, but really this is optional. The popsicle sticks alone are fun enough!
Jumbo Popsicle Sticks with Magnets on the Back
- Continue the Fun: This is a great ongoing project to keep set up in your classroom or home. I love having little stations set up around the house where the kids can continue to work on projects that I’ve introduced independently. Children could continue to draw more monsters using the dice game, add color and texture to monsters, or use their monster popsicle sticks to play imagination games.
Ruby (7) Playing the Create a Monster Game
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Julian (2) Coloring Some Monsters
Elliot’s (5) Monsters
In Conclusion
When you give children too open ended of a project, it can be hard for them to get started or know what to do, but by introducing a specific focus (like adding details and texture) it gives children the freedom to be creative within the parameters of the structure. I totally saw that in this lesson. All children were working on adding details and texture, but their monsters all looked very very different and matched their own specific interests and personalities. Not only that, but I heard from several parents that their children had fun continuing this art project at home.
If you want to inspire young artists, read these books!
I think that’s the beautiful thing about art, or any lesson for that matter. If children are excited about what they are learning, then they will continue the learning on their own. Check out my teacher’s pay teacher’s store for more resources that I’ve created to help your child build a strong foundation in core skills.
