Monster Book Mash

I like to do small “mini-events” with my PreK, Kinder, ELE, and ICAP classes toward the beginning of the year, to help get them excited about the library. I usually use the book from Jumpstart’s Read for the Record but unfortunately, there were schedule conflicts that prevented me from getting everything ready by their October 3rd date.
So instead, I decided to hold a Monster Book Mash to coincide with our school’s Fall Festival on Friday, October 11th. I found a new holiday book at Barnes and Noble that I just couldn’t resist buying. It’s called The Monstore by Tara Lazar. It’s a really cute book about a boy named Zack who tries to buy a monster from the monster store to scare his little sister and keep her from coming into his bedroom. Unfortunately for Zack, the monsters don’t quite do what they were hired for, which leads to quite a funny story!

I had also found a really fun idea on Pinterest where the kids create their own shape monsters. Right now, my kinder students are learning their shapes and colors, so I thought this would be a perfect craft activity to use with the book.
On Monday, I hosted a “Make Your Own Monster Shirt” in the library for any teachers who wanted to come by and get creative! I provided black fabric puffy paint, and they supplied their own shirt. It’s always a fun way to interact with teachers, and it gets the kids excited when everyone where’s their shirt on the day of the event! I also found a cute monster hat at Party City that worked perfectly with my shirt!

I rearranged my classes so that all my kindergarten classes would come to the library on Friday. (I’ve found it’s easier to do mini-events all in one day for a grade level so that if the decorations cover bookcases it doesn’t interfere with checking books out. I had all the PreK and Kinder classes come check out books only during the week and then their “lesson” was the 30 minute event on Friday.) Then Thursday after school, I created my own “Monstore” by hanging up various monsters all around my reading area.

I went ahead and set up my tables with glue bottles, crayons, markers, and baskets of small foam shapes so that everything would be ready for Friday morning.

Finally, I created an assembly line of materials that the students could pick from to create their monster. First, they chose their body shape and color. Then they decided on how many eyeballs their monster would have, as well as feet and arms. I had signs posted that told them how many of each item through could have.

I had “Monster Mash” playing on the light projector as the kids came walking into the library. After I read the book, I asked them if they wanted to create their own “Monstore”, to which of course they all screamed a highly excited “YES!” I went over the 3 main steps:

Pick out your body, eyes, feet, and hands
Glue all monster pieces onto your monster’s body
Decorate with crayons, markers, and small shapes

I bookmarked the following videos to play throughout the event to help set the mood. After the kids went through the assembly line, I played all 3 songs and by then I knew it was almost time to go. It also provided something for the kids to watch if they finished early.

When the last song ended, I asked all “monsters” to come back to the reading area to take their picture. I had the kids place their monsters in front of their face, which allowed me to take pictures of everyone and created a fun way to “guess which monster I am?!” I printed copies of each class and gave it to their teacher as a way of remembering the activity.

Even though it was a faced-paced event with A LOT to cover in just 30 minutes, everyone had a blast. I try to do something special at least once a year with each grade level. So far I’ve already done:

Monster Book Mash with Pre-K and Kinder
Book Tastings with 3rd-5th grade
Polar Express Rotations (will come in December with 1st grade)

I’m always on the lookout for new mini-events to hold in the library, and still need something for my 2nd graders. What special activities do you do in your library?

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