Monster Fun at a 6-year-old Boy's Birthday Party

Monster Mash --  a DIY mix-it-up, silly birthday game.

Guess who is turning six? My boy.

And guess who had the brilliant idea to invite a bunch of his friends over to the house to celebrate. Me.

I had this brilliant idea back in October. I was sitting on the porch, a cool wind was rustling yellow leaves in the trees. Just then everything seemed possible. Ideas popped into my mind : we'll have a treasure hunt, we'll play soccer, we'll make paper airplanes, we'll roast marshmallows in the backyard. Sounds awesome right? Oh wait, now it is December, it is 36F and rainy and I'm realizing that I need a plan to handle having all these boys in my house.

Yikes! 8 sweet little monsters (read: boys) in the house!
There is alot on the schedule. And we will keep them busy every minute.

Now my favorite activity for a boys birthday is a game I just invented. (Did I really?!)
It's a twisted version of pin the tail on the donkey.
A game that is funnier, wilder and in the end (let's just say it) better because everyone wins.

Let's call it "Monster Mash Up".
We've got the monster body on a poster.
One by one the kids will get to add all the crazy monster parts.
Together as a group they have create their own monsters.
We laugh at them, point at them, name them. No winners, no prizes-- just crazy fun.

 Take a look at the pictures and see what happened -- then make your own!

To create this awesome game for your kids party you will need:

2 pieces of poster board (white is best)

Black marker (permanent)
Markers or acrylic paint
Sticky Tack

1. Sketch your monster's body in pencil on the poster board. (Best to make it large and fairly blob like so that anywhere they "pieces" land they will hit a part of the monster.)
2. When you have a shape you like, trace over with permanent marker.
3. Add stripes, pocka-dots, or scales to give the body character.
4. Paint/color the body


5. On the second poster board, draw all the monster parts: eyes, horns, hands , claws, big feet, tiny feet, wings, toothy grins, kissy lips, wild hair, flaming hair, googly eyes, big nose, pointy nose, hairy ears. Do as many variations as you can think of. The more

the better! Color them wild and bright. I employed the kids (6 and 8 years old) to color. Then cut them out.
6. At party time have some tape prepped to stick on the backs of the pieces.
7. Kids can reach in to a box "blind" and pick parts or choose what they like.
8. Blindfold them and send them in the direction of the monster.
9. Watch and see what happens!

Kindergarten Art - Draw a Fox

Drawing a Sweet Fox

A Cute Red Fox by Izzy (age 6)

If you can draw shapes, you can draw a fox!

Ever wish you were more artistic? Ever wonder how to encourage your kids to explore art when nobody ever taught you how? Turns out it's easy if you take it step by step.Watch as my kindergarten class jumps in.


You'll need:
2 pieces white paper to do some warm up drawing
Black construction paper
White or yellow colored pencil
A pencil
Oil pastels




Step 1: Practice your shapes!
Warm up drawing.

If your child can draw a triangle, oval, circle, zig-zag and moon, they can draw a fox!




Use the examples here to create a warm up sheet for your kids. Encourage them to repeat shapes until they feel confident with them. The more they practice the more confident they will be!




Step 2: Draw your fox! Grab your white colored pencil and go!

You (and your child) will be drawing on black construction paper with a white colored pencil. I have drawn on white paper here so that you can see each step clearly.

1. Begin with the head, add an upside down triangle at the top of your page, about an inch down. Draw an upside down triangle. Now you have your fox's head.

2. Add 2 small right side up triangles on the top corners of the head (ears!) 

3. Add a smaller triangle inside each of the ears.

4. At the bottom tip of the triangle add a circle for the nose.

5. Half way down the head add two small circles for eyes.

6. Around the eyes draw two larger circles.

7. Add a large oval body below the head (the fatter, the cuter!)

8. At the bottom of the belly add a circle

9. Add 4 small half circles for feet

10. Add a half moon/crescent tail

11. Add zig-zag tail tip.

12.Add a ground line behind your fox.

Step 3 : Color!

Begin by coloring the sky (light blue  or light purple will work best)
Color the ground green. Add a darker green beneath your fox as a shadow if you like (the second piece you see above is a great example of this).

Now grab your white pastel.
Color the small inner triangles of the ears.
Color the larger circles of the eyes.
Color the belly (small circle) and tip of the tail white.

With your black pastel color the inner circles of the eyes and the tip of the nose.

Color the rest of your fox red!

One final note on making mistakes:

Sometimes a child (or anyone) makes a "mistake" and may want to give up. A child in class colored "too much" of his fox's belly white and was nearly in tears because he felt he had ruined his work.

Instead we talked about looking at his fox in a new way. It didn't take long for the class to realize that this child had created a "snow fox". After that the child worked with enthusiasm to create his own very special fox.

Now he has a beautiful snow fox sitting on top of a mountain in a snow storm. This fox is definitely the star of the show.

Remind your kids: there are no mistakes! Only happy accidents. Make the most of them!