Monster Mash

This week in my story times at work we are doing a Monsters theme for Halloween. Monsters are notoriously scary to younger kids (and even some older ones, for that matter), yet there are a lot of really great children's books featuring monsters! I made a real effort to choose monster books that encourage and empower kids, through teaching empathy and other tactics for de-scarifying (yes, that's a word now apparently) the things that go bump in the night.

My Favorite Monster Books

• Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
• There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer
• Monster Hug by David Ezra Stein
• Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
• Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere
• The Monster's Monster by Patrick McDonnell
• The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
• The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Strelitz Haber

Make Your Own Monster

Sometimes just the act of creating the thing that can be scary is empowering in itself - but making a monster and then tearing it to bits can also be good for some kids - you can try either with this craft! In any case the coloring and peeling off the stickers encourage the development of manual fine motor skills necessary for writing down the road.

Materials: Multiple colors of construction paper, crayons, shape stickers, googly eyes