Inside: Here are 10 of the best monster activities for kids & grandkids. Arts & crafts, baking, pebble-ice monsters, painting, and more. Fun activities to create spine-tingling monsters!

Monster Activities for Kids & Grandkids

According to history, monsters have been around for eons! These fictional characters have the reputation of being scary, dangerous, fearful, or having a grotesque appearance.

However, monsters can also be friendly, helpful, strong, mischievous, or even docile and kind—just depends on what book you’re reading or movie you’re watching!

Monsters (and their counterparts) are known by many names—goblins, aliens, werewolves, demons, mummies, or zombies.

Most importantly, kids all over the world have a fascination with monsters! They love them! They love to read about them, draw them, create them, see them in movies and even dream about them!

So, naturally, we had to have one of our themed activities about MONSTER ACTIVITIES!

Check out these 10 monster activities for kids and grandkids—each activity is designed to increase your child’s/grandchild’s imagination as they create these wonderful, scary, and fanciful creatures!

NOTE: the monster template for the eyes and mouths (on some of the monsters) was fun and made for a great final result. However, everything my grandkids learned from each project, came from participating in the step-by-step creative process.

Monster Activities: Circle Monsters

Georges Seurat used pointillism (tiny dots to create more brilliant colors) and Howardena Pindell (African-American artist) uses circles to create her abstract art.

We made these fun-loving monsters using printed paper cut into different sizes of circles and dots.

Each grandchild cut out 30 printed paper circles of different sizes and complementary colors. First, they found the biggest circle and glued it on the center of the page. Then, they glued the next biggest circles—overlapping each circle—and so on until they glued down all the circles on the paper.

Last, they added the monster’s eyes and mouth.

A great activity for building spatial awareness.

Supplies

• Patterned paper—different complimentary colors & textures (Michael’s)
• Glue stick
• Black poster board
• Scissors
• Monster template

Directions

• Each child needs 30 different-sized circles. Use patterned paper; making sure that one circle is about 7” in diameter. Use colors from the same family (reds, greens, blues, oranges) to create the circles
• First glue down the largest circle in the middle of the black poster paper.
• Glue the next largest circles on the paper; overlapping the circles.
• Continue gluing and overlapping the circles from largest to smallest until all are glued down.
• Add monster eyes and mouth

Martian Alien Monsters with Toilet Paper Rolls

These fun alien monsters use toilet paper rolls, paint, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and monster faces.

It’s easy to do but requires a few steps including gluing, painting, stuffing tissue paper, winding pipe cleaners around pencils to create alien antennas, and finally adding alien monster faces.

It’s a project about creativity, spontaneity, bilateral coordination, and sequencing! You need tempera paints, lots of colorful tissue paper, pipe cleaners and of course toilet paper rolls and cardboard.

End result—an alien monster Martian suitable for Hollywood!

Supplies

• 7 toilet paper rolls cut in different lengths
• 1 12” circle cut from white cardboard
• Tempera paints in different colors
• Paintbrushes and round foam brushes
• Tissue paper—different colors
• Pipe cleaners
• Monster faces template

Directions

• Hot glue different lengths of toilet paper rolls onto a round piece of white cardboard.
• Paint the cardboard and toilet paper rolls with different colors of tempera paints using both regular and round foam brushes.
• When dry, stuff the toilet paper rolls with different colors of tissue paper, leaving 3 toilet rolls for gluing on eyes and a mouth.
• Take pipe cleaners (we used 2 for each antenna) and wind them around a pencil; leaving 1” at the end
• Decide where you are going to glue on the alien’s eyes and above each eye on the toilet paper rolls, punch holes near the top for antennas.
• Thread the end of the pipe cleaner through the hole and twist to attach.

Collage Cardboard Monsters

Collage comes from the French word, “coller” or “to glue.” The term was coined by cubist artists Picasso and Braque who in 1910 began creating different pieces of art using glue, layered paper, and other mediums.

Today, a favorite arts & crafts activity involves gluing pieces of paper, cardboard, or even fabrics into layered collage designs.

Using dot markers, oil pastels, and Kwik Stix markers, the grandkids colored scraps of white cardboard. Taking their colored cardboard pieces, they arranged and glued them onto another piece of cardboard in a collage pattern.

Add monster eyes and mouth and you have a happy, collage monster!

Supplies

• Scraps of white and brown cardboard
• Dot markers
• Oil pastels
• Kwik Stix markers
• 12×12” piece of cardboard
• 12×12” piece of decorative cardstock paper
• Monster faces—template
• Glue sticks

Directions

• Using oil pastels, dot markers, Kwik Stix markers—color the scraps of cardboard. Use lines, circles, plaids, dots, etc., to make each piece interesting
• On a 12×12” piece of cardboard; glue on a 12×12” piece of printed cardstock
• Glue the colored bits & pieces of cardboard onto the paper.
• Attach monster faces onto collage

Monster Activities: Big Fat Cardboard Monsters

Much like Swiss artist, Jean Tinguely, who created kinetic sculptures from incongruous objects, we took cardboard inserts, egg cartons, and other materials to create these monsters.

The grandkids chose 2 different big cardboard shapes and painted them with tempera paints.

When the cardboard dried, they added googly eyes, feathers, bottle caps, yarn hair; paper manipulations, and funny-looking mouths to create these scary monsters!

Supplies

• Various cardboard inserts; egg cartons
• Tempera paints
• Large brushes
• Things to decorate your monsters: googly eyes, funny-looking mouths, bottle caps, feathers, yarn for hair; paper manipulations. Paper manipulations include rolling, crushing, squishing, cutting; creating fans, etc., from colorful paper.
• Hot glue

Directions

• Paint the cardboard inserts with tempera paints; let dry
• If you’re using more than one cardboard insert—hot glue them together
• Decorate your monster
• Hot glue all the decorations in place (regular glue was not working for us)

Blow Paint Monsters!

Kids & grandkids LOVE blow painting!

Dots of paint blown in all directions on cardboard are the perfect ways to create fun and fanciful monsters. The beauty of blow painting is, the paints touch each other, but do not mix and blend together.

Add googly eyes; a mouth and crazy hair and you’ve created a scary monster!

Supplies

• Paper plates (6 or 8”)
• Straws
• Acrylic paints. We used neon acrylic paints from IKEA
• Bottle caps, clothespins, googly eyes, feathers
• Monster mouths

Directions

• Squirt dots of different colors of acrylic paint on the back of a paper plate.
• Using a straw, blow the paint around the plate. Let dry.
• Add googly eyes, a mouth, and crazy hair made from clothespins, pipe cleaners, or bottle caps

More Monster Activities: Chocolate & Pebble Ice Monsters

Have you ever seen melted sugar poured over pebble ice on different food network shows? It creates a lacy top for cakes, etc.

However, melted sugar is extremely hot and shouldn’t be used with little kids. But you can melt different colors of chocolate and have your kids/grandkids pour it over pebble ice creating an interesting shape that when you add eyes and mouth—you have an edible monster!

Supplies

• Wilton Melts in different colors
• Pebble ice
• Edible googly eyes
• Monster mouths

Directions

• Place about 3 cups of pebble ice in a bowl
• Melt about 1/2 cup of chocolate in the microwave—stirring it every 30 seconds until completely melted
• Gradually pour the chocolate over the pebble ice in a zig-zag fashion. It will freeze over the ice into a monster-like shape
• While the chocolate is still warm, put the edible eyes and mouth on your monster.
• Let cool; gently lift from the ice

Great chocolate for monster activities!

Monster Activities: Making Monster Cookies

Do your kids/grandkids love baking and creating in the kitchen? Don’t miss this opportunity to make these fun monster sugar cookies.

You probably have a favorite sugar cookie recipe, but if not, check mine out below—I’ve been using this recipe for 47 years!

I purchased the monster cookie cutters from Amazon which included these fun monster legs you can attach your cookies to. Even though these work best using color-flow frosting, it was easier for our grandkids to use regular frosting. The examples are color flow frosting.

Supplies

• Recipe for sugar cookies
• Monster cookie cutters
• Frosting or color flow frosting in different colors
• Cake tip #3
• Edible googly eyes

Directions

• Make a batch of sugar cookies
• Using the monster cookie cutters—cut out and bake
• Give each child/grandchild 5 monster cookies
• Frost and decorate your monster cookies!

Playdoh Monsters: Filler Monster Activity

All the activities I do with our grandkids are pre-planned, however, I usually need a few filler activities—activities the grandkids can do on their own—while I’m setting up the next activity.

This monster activity was simple. I gave the grandkids lots of different things to create a monster: Playdoh, scraps of paper, drinking straws, googly eyes, a garlic press and pipe cleaners, etc.

It’s always amazing what kids come up with!

Painting Monsters: Filler Activity

Here is another easy-peasy filler activity to keep the kids/grandkids busily engaged doing something fun.

Give each child/grandchild a piece of poster paper and Kwik Stix markers and challenge them to make the scariest or happiest or funniest-looking monster in the world! We are going to save these, cut them up, and use them to make Spring flowers.

The possibilities are endless!

Monster Activities: Reading Books About Monsters

Check out these fun books about monsters to read to your kids/grandkids while you are creating these fun & scary monsters:

• How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
• Crankenstein by Samantha Berger
• I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll
• Love Monster by Rachel Bright
• Monsters You Should Know by Emma SanCartier
• Monsters Are Not Real by Esther Pia Cordova
• Monster School by Kate Coombs
• Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts by Lonely Planet Kids
  

What monster activities do you do with your kids or grandkids? Please comment in the section below.

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