If you're looking for DIY felt board sets for kids, then you have to try these mix and match monsters! This felt board activity is a great way to work on emotions.
I recently made a DIY felt board for our playroom. And I've been brainstorming different felt board activities for it ever since.
One idea that I had was to make some mix and match monsters, similar to our mix and match owls set. However, this monster set would allow for more possibilities and creativity. Especially since monsters come in more shapes and sizes and have more features to change than owls do.
My oldest son had a lot of fun with this activity. He had a blast building and creating a wide range of hilarious little monsters. As it turns out, this activity was a pretty educational one too (as you'll soon learn about). I was kind of surprised where it took us.
How to Make Felt Mix and Match Monsters
The pieces for this play set were all cut freehand (as is my usual style) using craft felt. Most of the smaller features were made using scrap pieces of felt and hot glue. So while I didn't use any kind of pattern or template to make these, you could definitely make a pattern first on some freezer paper. Then pin it to the felt and cut it out.
Here are the pieces that I created for these mix match monsters:
- 6 monster bodies - made from 9" x 12" sheets of felt
- 6 mouth pieces - made from felt scraps and hot glued together
- 12 pairs of monster eyes - again, made from felt scraps and hot glue
- Monster parts like antennae, horns, spikes, and a wavy piece
It might seem like there are so many monster parts here, but I wanted to make sure that the kids could make a wide variety of different monsters like these...
.jpg "Adorable felt monsters that you can mix and match")
Explore Emotions with these Unique Monster Combinations!
Since I haven't hung up our new felt board yet, we were able to try this activity out in the sunroom. While my youngest K showed no interest in the monster set, my oldest, J, really enjoyed this activity, making roughly one kajillion monsters. Okay, not really. But here are a few of his cute monster creations.
There are a few different ways to play with these mix and match monsters. You could use them for storytelling, for instance. You could even use them to learn about body parts or to practice following directions. Or, you could use them to explore emotions like J did, all on his own. See that's why it's important to follow your child's lead.
Anyway, I seriously did not anticipate that these adorable monsters would turn into a discussion about emotions, but they did. J would add smiles to the monsters' faces then turn them upside down to make them sad. Here are some of the happy monsters that he created.
Now, obviously you could make many monsterous combinations (nice play on words there, hey?). But here are some of his sad monsters.
.jpg "Adorable mix and match monsters activity for kids")
I love making fun felt board sets like this one for my boys, especially when they turn out so darn cute!
Other Monster Themed Activities You'll Love
