To say my students last year loved Go Away Big Green Monster would be an understatement! It was a daily request for me to read “Big Green Monster” and usually the first thing they said as they walked into the classroom in the mornings. It was a request that usually at some point I would oblige because they were interested in listening to a story, gasp! Ed Emberley’s die cut illustrations for this book are amazing—the way you slowly watch the monster build and the empowerment kiddos get from telling the monster piece by piece to go away is so much fun! I typically introduce this book when I introduce the color green—we also go over the other colors presented in the book—and we do various green activities during small group with the story.
Retell Activities for Go Away Big Green Monster:
- Felt board “Big Green Monster”! Here is a link to the pattern. This way your students can help build and take away the monster during or after the story!
- Big Green Monster Sequence cards: Another great find on Making Learning Fun. Have the students put the cards in order after the story!
Small Group/Craft Activities forGo Away Big Green Monster:
- My favorite activity is making a handprint “Big Green Monster”. For this activity you will need: paper plates, blue finger paint, yellow finger paint, purple yarn or construction paper, blue construction or tissue paper, red construction paper and white construction paper. To create the face of the big green monster and to discover how to make the color green have students place one hand in blue paint and one in yellow paint and then rub their hands together to create green paint! The students then place their handprints in the center of the plate. They then create hair and faces out of the construction paper and yarn! These always turn out so cute! And what a fun color mixing activity! I originally found this idea here.
- Monster Glyph: Before starting this activity you will need to read both Go Away Big Green Monster and There is a Nightmare in My Closet. Also have a lot of construction paper and glue. In the end it makes for a great bulletin board display. Post the key so everyone can learn about the students!
- This is the key:
- The color of the monster = favorite color
- The number of hairs = how old you are
- The color of your ears
- Blue = you like the book
- Green = you did not like the book
- The color of your mouth
- red = you like Go Away Big Green Monster the best
- pink = you like There is a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer the best
- This is the key:
- Monster Plants: An easy and fun monster themed science project! Take cups and let your students decorate them like monsters. Plant grass seeds inside of the cups and watch the monsters grow hair! Make observations daily about the plants and chart the progress!
Hope you find these book activities useful! Happy Planning!