Go Away Big Green Monster

Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

 

Gathering Activity: Two Monster Sensory Bins

Squishy Green Monster Eyes

Inspired by I Can Teach My Child, I bought green water beads from the Wal-mart floral department for the kids to explore.  They LOVED it.  The had so much fun squishing the "bubbles,"  and so did the moms!  They are addictive!  They are non-toxic and easy to clean up, even when they smash them. They come in a small package in many colors.  You add water and allow them to expand over night. 

Green Monster Sensory Bin

I created a sensory bin using shiny green gift filler, green boa feathers, googly eyes, and monster teeth.   The children had fun hiding and finding the eyes over and over again.  

Circle Time: Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

Sing "Here We Are Together"

We read Go Away Big Green Monster together.    I love the layered illustrations, that build the monster a page at a time and then disappears a page at a time.  The kids love telling him to "GO AWAY!"  

Songs and Fingerplays:

I found cute monster finger puppets in the party section at Target.  I bought two packs.  The children enjoyed using these in our finger play today.   

Five little monsters went to play
Across the yard and far away
Mama Monster yelled really loud
“Little Monsters, come back now.”
(Repeat with numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1)
No little monsters came back then.
What could they be hiding in?
Mama Monster checked the yard
Five Little Monsters were playing hard.


I'm a Little Monster
(to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot")
I'm a little monster, can't you see?
Everyone is scared of me.
Scared of me, I don't know why ...
I wouldn't even hurt a fly!
                          

Art: Paper Plate Monsters

Materials Needed: Green Paper Plates, googly eyes, sticky foam pieces, feathers, colored pasta, glue, tissue paper, glue

Directions: Let the children create their own monsters using materials.


Snacks: Green Monster Pudding and Green Monster Cupcakes

Green Monster Pudding:  We found this super cute idea on the Better Homes and Garden Website.  The children loved it! 

Green Monster Cupcakes: One of our little friends had a birthday today and her mom made these awesome cupcakes!  The hair is piped chocolate she let harden.  The mouth and nose are fruit strips.  

Activity: Pin the Eyes on the Monster Game

One of our dads pitched in and made this large green monster for the children to "pin" googly eye balls on.  Thanks, Sam's Dad! 

Where the Wild Things Are

Special Instructions:  The children each wore a costume and brought a dollar to help pay for the pumpkins.

Gathering Activity: We decorated paper plate monster masks together to use for our Wild Rumpus at the end of class.

Circle Time: We read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  We roared along with the Wild Things in the story. When we sang our opening song, "Here We Are Together," we sang it twice.  Once for our real names, and once for the names of the characters we came dressed as to Mommy and Me. We sang monster songs and did monster finger plays. 

Snack: Monster Face Pizzas
Ingredients: English Muffins, pizza sauce, cheese, pepperonis, pepper slices, olives.
Directions: Allow the children to assemble their own pizzas and bake until cheese is melted.

Art Activities: Pumpkin Monsters
Materials Needed: Pie Pumpkins, foam stickers, glitter glue, feathers
Directions: Allow the children to use the supplied materials to decorate their pumpkins however they wish.

Playtime Activity: Wild Rumpus
We held our masks in one hand and our instruments in another and ran through the house making lots of noise dancing, jumping, stomping, and crawling like wild things.  Then when a child pretending to be Max yelled "STOP", all the children stopped and then another child had a turn to be Max.