Monster Mash

This is an activity that will not take a lot of time but can be a lot of fun.

You can play it with one child but also with a group of children. Playing with a group will require some more organising to make sure everyone can do something at the same time.

The aim of the game is to create a creature/monster with each other. One child will draw the head of the monster, another will draw his belly and the last child will draw the feet. The funny thing is that they don’t not know what the other body parts look like. This means the monster can come out looking really funny. Imagine for example that it is a male monster that happens to wear a skirt because the third child did not know the first child decided it would be a boy.

After the monster is revealed you can ask the child(ren) to write a character sheet about the monster. Working together, the children can give the monster a name, an age, hobbies and maybe even a background story.

You can even extend the activity and turn it into a creative writing exercise by collecting the different character sheets before handing them out again at random. The children can then write a short story about a monster which was created by another group.

What do you need:

• A couple of A4-size pieces of paper
• Colouring pencils or markers
• lined pieces of paper for the character description

Steps:

1. Fold the piece of paper in three even parts (see picture, I have made the lines blue to make it clear).
2. Number the folded paper parts (see picture).
3. The first child draws a head on the part of the paper numbered 1.
4. Make sure the child continues the neck slightly into the part of the paper numbered 2 so the next child knows where to continue (you can also place the lines on the paper beforehand, like I did in the picture).
5. Show the child(ren) how to fold the piece of paper to make sure child number 2 cannot see what the other has drawn, but can only see the two little lines of the neck.
6. Repeat the action from child number 2 to child number 3. Also, make sure that the child who is drawing the belly starts the legs with two little lines, so the third child knows where to continue. If you are playing this game with one child, your child can draw the head, you can draw the belly and then your child can draw the legs again.
7. When the third person has finished, the pieces of paper can be unfolded to reveal the monster.
8. You can then decide whether you would like to turn the activity into a creative writing exercise as described above.

Tip: 

Children all draw at different speeds. To make sure those who finish earlier than others do no lose their attention you can set a time in which the drawing needs to be finished. That way, all the children will know how long they can take/ have to wait. Make sure the time you set is not too short; you don’t want to limit children’s creativity. Children who finish early can, for example, read a book, or you could provide them with a word searcher.

Story Cubes

Story cubes are cubes with six different pictures or symbols on it. You will need a minimum of three cubes to play the game. Someone will throw three (or more) cubes and the player has to improvise a story using the pictures that are facing up. The story can be as long (or as short) as the player wants, but it has to consist of all the pictures the cubes are showing.

Story cubes are sold in many variants, but they are also easy to make yourself.

What do you need:

• Paper cube templates on A4 paper* (you can also use wooden cubes that you can buy in your local DIY shop)
  If you want the cube to be a little bit sturdier you can glue the template on thicker paper before decorating.
  It will be a little bit harder to fold together but it will be easier to play with.
• Glue (something like a Pritt stick will probably work best)
• Colouring pencils/crayons or just a black marker if you would like to work with black and white cubes.
• Scissors
• Story cube symbols* (these are optional and can be used to help younger children)

* The word documents attached consist of the paper cube template and the story cube symbols.

Steps:

1. You can either start by cutting out the cube template or you can do that later on.
2. Ask the child(ren) to decorate the six empty sides of the cube. Make sure the strips for folding are not decorated because they will be folded inwards and are therefore not visible once the cube is finished.
   The story cube symbols can be used as an example for the child(ren) or they can hold both sheets against a window (the symbol sheet first) and copy the symbols on their cube.
3. Once the cube is decorated you cut out the template if you have not already done so.
4. Fold the folding strips inwards and build the cube by putting glue on the folding strips. Make sure the folding strips are glued inwards so they are not covering any drawings.
5. Once the cube has been folded and the glue has dried the cubes are ready to use.

If you are making the cubes with a group of children you can put the children in small groups and have them play with each other’s story cubes.
If you are looking for a quieter activity you can also have the children write down their stories.
Story cubes can also be used to start a creative writing exercise, all children will write a different story that is for sure!

Have fun making your own story cubes!

I will try out this activity with a group of children tomorrow and I can hopefully post some pictures of the results soon.

Word documents:
Story cubes
Symbols story cubes

  

Here are some examples of cubes made by children.