Monster Art
Fall is my favorite time of the year but not because the air is crisp and the colors are amazing, but because my school art room is taken over by haunted house drawings (click to see that lesson) and AMAZING MONSTER ART!
MONSTER ART - two ways!
Monster art is easy and fun for kids because they are already familiar with monsters! Sesame Street Monsters, Tickle Monster, Monsters Inc… you get the idea.
I made a Powerpoint on Famous Monsters (FREE for you!) just to get the kids excited about making monsters. I hope you will take advantage of it. It features monsters from television shows, movies and books! I also throw in “The Scream” by Edvard Munch for an art history connection.
I am surprised about what I found when I started my monster research - especially the history of Frankenstein and Dracula!
Not only does FAMOUS MONSTER ART provide inspiration for the type of monster students want to make - scary, happy, silly, goofy… but it shows them that REAL artists created these monsters!
After all of our exploring, we get to work.
In the younger grades, the kids make Shape Monsters. We focus on shape (of course) and facial expression. Everything is done with colored construction paper.
This lesson also has an ulterior motive! Without having to explicitly tell them, I am getting them ready for drawing by exploring things they can make with shapes: horns, arms, hats, crowns, hair, shoes, hands, claws, fangs….you get the idea!
Shape Monsters is FULL of time-saving resources and is available on TeachersPayTeachers. Click here!
Click image for these time-saving resources.
In 3rd grade, the kids make Tissue Box Monsters out of tissue boxes. This came about when I noticed how many tissue boxes our school went through each year! We put those bad boys to good use in no time.
I help the students explore texture and pattern (on the skin) along with more complicated facial expressions.
The final step is a students will name their monster with an adjective (language arts connection!)… for example: Sad Samantha or Annoyed Edward.
I put the monsters on display in October! The kids take them home to store their Halloween candy at the end of the month. Here are some students examples!
Our foyer outside the office is FILLED with Haunted Houses (click to see lesson), Shape Monsters and Tissue Box Monsters!
I think the most satisfying thing for me is how kids talk about each other’s art and point out “their favorite”. Their art adds to their conversations as they go out to recess and I absolutely love it.
Leave me comments or suggestions!
Happy Creating! Mrs. Ward (Amy)