Preschool Story Time - Monster Playdate

I have toyed with this theme for some time.  Ever since last November when I made a little one cry with my troll voice in Three Billy Goats Gruff, I have been afraid to do anything remotely scary.  I think I finally found the right combination of books, songs, and finger plays that will delight the preschool set without making them uneasy.

The Monster's Monster by Patric McDonnell

Grump, Gloom and Doom, and Gripe build their own monster - but will he be what they expect?  This is a rather sweet book and great to show that monsters aren't all what they are made out to be.

Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer

What's there to do with a girl monster who doesn't quite fit in with the monster crowd?  Should she change to be more like her class to gain acceptance?  This is a story that says it's OK to be you!

After Halftime, we settled back down with a flannel board/finger play!

When I do these "5 Littles", I do them twice.  Once on fingers with hand movements, and once on the feltboard with felt pieces.  Where applicable, I give the kids some means to take the rhyme home to do with a parent- either putting it on my parent newsletter or finding a reproducible that has the figures to cut out and play with.

5 Little Monsters sleeping in my bed.
One crawled out from under the spread.
I called out to mama and my mama said:
'No more monsters sleeping in your bed!'

Continue with 4,3,2,1 and
No more monsters sleeping in my bed
None crawled out from under the spread
I called out to mama and my mama said:
"No more monsters, now go to bed!"

For more on my flannel board (and to find my template/coloring page) which was featured on a recent Flannel Friday post, and a link to this rhyme and more monster rhymes, Click HERE

There Was an Old Monster by Rebecca and Ed Emberly

A take on There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, this book is a great book to sing to!  I already do every possible version of the "Old Lady" in my story time, so the kids were excited to see what this old monster would be swallowing.  Make sure you practice a couple of times first, however, because the song takes a little detour from the traditional tune.  The ending will surprise everyone!

The Baby That Roared by Simon Puttock

Mr and Mrs Deer have a new baby!  But they can't seem to get the baby to settle down.  Who should they call to help?  This book had the kids laughing.  They really enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching them slowly 'getting' it.

And as a bonus and to close our session, we used Rebecca Emberly's book 'If You're a Monster and You Know It' as a fun movement song.  I made sure to have plenty of copies on hand to go home with the kids, but we just sang and danced this song A-Capella. 

And now for my craft!  Inspired by this blog called Alphamom, but using card stock instead of foam, I cut a pair of 'feet' for the kids to decorate with yarn (for hairy feet), markers and jewels (for a pedi).  They can be worn over the shoes or socks as monster feet!!  I used one card per foot for my demonstration, but for the kids I was able to use one card for both feet.

This was the biggest hit with all of the kids!  Make sure to have extra on hand.  The moms are sure to want extras for their kids at  home.  I was cleaned out!

Thanks for stopping by!  Monster Theme was a big hit with the kids because they learned that monsters didn't have to be scary - sometimes they were silly and fun!