Type I SEW Activities Monsters, Inc

Type I SEW Activities – Monsters, Inc.

Introductory discussion on the definition of “monster” followed by a slide show (power point) presentation of monsters: pictures of the classics (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) & pictures of lesser known monsters such as the Minotaur or harpies vs. pictures of “friendly” monsters like Mike and Sully, Shrek, etc. Include brief video clips like origin stories for vampires or witches. Offer a lot of variety and interesting anecdotes to grab student interest in the theme.
Watch movie magic – Creature Makeup Masks to learn about the type of job a person could have that involves monsters and get ideas for making masks. Learn how to do the “Monster Mash” dance and the “Thriller” dance as a way to get kids up out of their seats and become active in the classroom.

Read a few Greek mythologies for kids from the website to see what ideas ancient cultures had about monsters and compare that to our ideas of monsters today to see how things have changed.
Show clip from Monster’s Inc. where the monsters jump out of the closet to scare children. Draw what scares you the most coming from your bedroom closet to examine what real world things scare us (my closet would have spiders in it because that’s what I’m afraid of).
Have a movie makeup artist/mask creator pay a visit to students as a guest speaker, or possibly Skype with class. Teach students how to do some simple monster makeup of their own and allow them to have their faces painted.
Take the students on a haunted house virtual tour. Blacken out all windows to help set the atmosphere, also play creepy/scary music.

Read the Book of Monsters: Halloween by Anthony Briggs. A monster book for children, crammed full of scary things that go bump in the night. Featuring 26 monsters from myths, movies and spooky Halloween stories. With fan favorites, including: Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein, Bloody Mary, Slender man, Werewolves and more.
Blindfold students and have them touch different objects, textures, surfaces such as cooked noodles (or is it intestines???) and have students describe how it makes them feel.
Look at different Halloween costumes, and study the history behind scary monster costumes, have students discuss their favorite Halloween costumes they’ve ever worn, and decide whether they prefer to dress up as the “good guy” (heroes) or the “bad guy” (monsters).
Learn how to turn normal everyday food into “monster” food; checking several tips from Pinterest, have a taste testing party.
Read Where the Wild Things Are, and watch the clip from the movie of the “howling contest” and have the students have their own howling contest. Discuss with students why animals might howl (hungry, communication, letting others know who is in charge).
Using the Monsters Inc. book, observe the different animated characters and facts from the movie. What characteristics do the characters exhibit? Are they scary? Do they look nice? What about their appearance? Then think of many, varied, single words to describe one of the characters you found interesting.
Observing the pictures of what we would call “monsters”, write what your definition of a monster is. Then, on the same sheet of paper, use a dictionary to look up the definition of a monster under your definition.
As a class, we will take a virtual field trip to see what we can find that goes “bump” in the night.
Using communication skill one, come up with many, varied, single words that describe animals that we think are “monsters”.
Watch a PowerPoint to learn how monsters have evolved over the years.
Most monsters come across as being mean, but not all monsters are mean. Each monster has different emotions.Think of many, varied single words describing monster emotions. Pick one of your emotions to draw on a blank monster face Use the materials provided to embellish your monster face.
How does fear work? Think of a time when you were afraid or something scared you. Describe how you felt physically and mentally in the moment before and after encountering something scary.
Most monsters come in all different forms, with many different kinds of appendages. Think of a monster that you know has a unique form and create a web that describes and shows all the different physical aspects of the creature.
We still have fears of monsters today, but we have become accustomed to their presence with the popularity of monsters growing in the entertainment world. Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghost are top box offices in the movies. Pick one of these three “monsters” and write about how and why you think movie producers have developed them over time.
Big Foot, Sasquatch, and the Yeti are all creatures that we have heard of. These big mostly hairy creatures have been spotted all around the world, including Big Foot, here in the United States. Research each creatures features and where they have been spotted at and why we fear these creatures.
Have you ever heard of the Salem Witch Trials? Read the book……. To discover what it is and who it happened to many years ago in the United States.
Explore the “Monster Encyclopedia” to learn about different monsters from different cultures. Pick two or three of your favorites that you read about and make many varied predictions as to why these monsters represent these cultures/ why these monsters are based off of certain cultures’ beliefs. Using the Monsters Inc. book, observe the different animated characters and facts from the movie. What characteristics do the characters exhibit? Are they scary? Do they look nice? What about their appearance? Then think of many, varied, single words to describe one of the characters you found interesting.

Type II Activities – Monsters, Inc.

Slide show about monsters in film, literature, TV, comics, etc. Have students think of many, varied, and unusual types of monsters/creatures as they can prior to the slideshow, and think of where they know that monster from (did you see it on TV or at the movies? Did you read about it somewhere?). This will help students realize how much monsters influence our culture. PT
Listen to “scary” sounds or songs, like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and have students discuss how these things make them feel. C2
Study how animals (or in this case monsters that don’t talk) can communicate without words, particularly by using body language. C6
Make many varied predictions about the causes for monsters being misunderstood. F1
Communication activity – Students will use what they have learned about how to communicate without words to pretend to be monsters and deliver a Pantomime of a scene between two monsters that meet who can’t talk (like The Mummy or the Wolfman). C6
Productive thinking activity – Think of many, varied, and unusual ways to trap a monster. PT
Students will learn how to operate a small simple video camera to record our own “Messing with Sasquatch” commercial.
Communication activity - Students will learn better how to express themselves by doing taking a prompt like, “A vampire’s teeth are as sharp as ______” and coming up with many, varied similes to compare it to. Or “A werewolf’s fur coat is as coarse as ______.” C3
Students will learn how to follow a simple recipe: If no access to a kitchen, then students will learn how to make frosting and mix food coloring to get it the color they want. This will be used to decorate our “monster cupcakes”. Will also attempt to teach students how to pipe the frosting on the cupcake in a way to make it look like fur, scales, etc. Students will get to decide things like how many eyes it should have, and come up with creative ways they can decorate the face and still get to enjoy eating it.
Students will learn the process for making a Lego stop motion video, and together we can make a short and simple “alien invasion” or “Big Foot sighting” video.
Communication activity – Students will receive the following creative writing prompt “What if monsters were real – what kinds of jobs would some monsters want to get? What kind of students would they be at your school? How would people act around them? Come up with a short story about the changes this would have on our lives.”

Create cardboard Haunted House with lots of scary/monstrous details hidden inside. Look up link to DIY Cardboard Haunted House.
Students will pick a monster & research that monster. Then they can sculpt that monster and create a diorama habitat for that monster to live in, because even monsters need a home.
After watching a YouTube clip of how Disney/ Pixar animators drew the characters of Monsters Inc., students will use the Planning Talent to create the steps of designing their own animated character to display on the class “Animators Wall”. P
After learning about how people are transformed into monsters using makeup, students will be able to identify different monster makeup characteristics. Students will then design on paper first, then, after teacher approval, they will be able to apply their own makeup to look like the monster that they designed. Students will learn how the makeup can change your look and transform someone into something monstrous.
The Mythological Comic Book is filled with many different mythological creatures that are unusual and often feared. From the Mythological Comic Book, students will pick their favorite myth that has a mythological creature in it from the book, and create their own myth. The students will learn that these mythological creatures were feared and are still seen as scary, during the Ancient Greek times.
Students will learn about famous monsters in history and Hollywood. The students will see how they have changed over time. Students will design their own monster of the future. Using these questions, the students will create a future monster: What will they wear? Will they act differently? How will their appearance change? Will Students will sketch their creation with a pencil, and then will outline their final picture on a piece of construction paper. They will use a hot plate covered with foil to lay their picture down on and draw while their crayon melts.
After watching a YouTube clip of how Disney/ Pixar animators drew the characters of Monsters Inc., students will use the Planning Talent to create a plan for designing their own animated character to display on the class “Animators Wall”. The students will see what steps it takes to create animated characters.
Some animals that we see are considered “monsters”. Using one of animals that we described in our list of animal that we think of as a monster and research what makes them so scary. Create a detailed picture of your animal with the scary parts labeled and describe in song form the animal and all its “monster qualities”.
Describing monsters can be fun without using words, but is challenging with just sounds. In your groups, one person will draw from a cup to see what monster they will act out. After a short one minute planning time, each group will act out for the class to guess which monster they picked. The students should include the physical characteristics and the personality of their monster in their acting. The students will demonstrate the different characteristics of monsters.
Different Creatures or Monsters all have different characteristics that make them unique. How can you tell if a creature or monster is mythical? Together we will look at how to tell if a creature is mythical or not and develop, through the Decision Making talent, specific criteria to refer to when looking at different monsters. We will call the finished product Our How to guide to identifying mythical creatures.
Have you ever wondered how movie producers create new creatures for movies? We will watch a movie of how producers create new characters for their films and use their steps to create our own character.
Monsters have evolved over the years physically, personality wise, and the perception of them has evolved as well. After looking at comparing pictures of different monsters, we will create a chart comparing the differences and similarities. Students will learn that every creature has different characteristics that change over time.
How does fear affect our bodies, mind, and brain? We know how it makes us feel, but what actually happens in our brains? Students will think of many varied effects of fear that happens in our brains and our bodies, and we will discuss together what they discovered.
After discussing our predictions of monsters from different cultures, students will choose one of their selections that they made predictions from and research the origin of their monster and culture using computers, books, etc. They will see if their predictions are correct. They will then make a diorama, collage, or other type of art form to present their original predictions, research, and their overall opinion and conclusion about what they learned from this project.
Where did Halloween come from? Why do we celebrate it? Students will think of many varied, unusual ideas of how they think Halloween got started.
Vampires are one of the most popular monsters today. Compare modern vampires to any other type of monster using a compare and contrast Venn diagram. How are vampires portrayed in today’s society? What characteristics and abilities do they have? What makes vampires so interesting? Students will use the compare and contrast to examine the qualities of two different monsters.
Do aliens exist? Do they live on another planet? Why are they seen as monsters? Students will read books about aliens and UFO sightings. Students will create a presentation in the form of a small poster to why they believe or do not believe aliens exist and why we humans have perceived them as monsters. Students will use their opinion to express what they have learned about aliens and alien sightings.
Different Cultures have different kinds of fears of monsters. Different countries have different versions of monsters than the United States. Pick a different country and research the different popular monsters that they fear. Write about at least four different monsters and if they sound like a different version of the monsters here in the United States.
What is magic? How does it work? Is it real? What makes it so spooky? Are there different kinds of magic? Where did it come from? Using these guiding questions, students will read about magic and answer these questions. After answering these questions, student will create their own magical spell that turns an object into a different object.

Type III Activities – Monsters, Inc.

Creating your own animated creatures can be a fun. What does it take to become an animator? Research what it takes to become an animator and create your own set of animated characters to put on display for the class to see.
Using the research of the animal you thought of as a monster, and more research, use productive thinking to think of many, varied and unusual ideas of what you think the animal would look like, and act like if you took all of the “monster qualities” away. Design a display to put in the class that shows a picture of the de-monsterized animal and all of its new non-monster qualities.
Based on the list created about a Hollywood monster, Students will research the history of their monster and how it has evolved over time. Students will create a presentation to give to the class that shows pictures, and details of how their character has evolved in Hollywood over time.
Using the aspects of a good commercial, and correct video camera techniques we discussed, students will be divided into groups to present their own version of a Messing with Sasquatch commercial. Students are to plan before filming by picking any type of monster they want to use in their commercial.
Students will create a presentation in the form of a poster, PowerPoint, or any other way, showing how the brain reacts to fear. Students will include the cause of the fear, and how each part of the body is affected by the fear. This project will include specific details and steps of physical and mental processes of fear.
Students have been learning about what makes a monster. With all of their prior and gained knowledge, the students will create their own monster. Based on all the characteristics that have been discussed and research, each student will design and dress up as their type of monster. We will have a “Monster Idol” in which parents and teachers get to ask questions, such as: What do you eat? What do you use your claws for? Why are you the color you are? Where do you live? These questions will check to see if students have learned that each monster is unique and has different characteristics that make it up. Whoever impresses the judges will win a special surprise.
Create an original monster talent show for students – must create costumes, & demonstrate “talents” or “skills” of that monster. Write the biography of your monsters life and share it as part of the presentation. Create a monsters card game and teach it to others. Create monster trading cards (like Pokemon trading cards). Professional looking cards that include a picture for the front and details/info./stats about the monster on the back. Write the rules of the game, and instructions on how to play it.
Create a monster ABC book – create monstrous looking letters of the alphabet, use each letter to somehow describe a monster – A is for awful, B is for Bite, C is for Cunning, etc.
Demonstrate Monster make up techniques and teach others how to make a monster using makeup or write a how to book on how to use make up to make a monster face.

Type I Activities – Monster Mash