Monster Activities for Preschool Kids: Fun Ideas for Halloween & Beyond
Looking for monster activities that are fun without being scary?
You’re in the right place. These monster activities for preschool kids are perfect for Halloween time—or anytime you want to add some silly, colorful fun to your classroom.
The best part? Every activity builds real skills. Fine motor practice, counting, letter recognition, and more—all disguised as playful monster theme fun.
Here’s what makes these activities special:
- Not scary. These are silly, colorful monsters that preschoolers love—no nightmares here!
- Skill-building. Every activity works on fine motor skills, math concepts, or early literacy.
- Flexible. Use them during your Halloween unit or anytime you want a fun monster theme.
From playdough trays to movement activities, these monster activities for kids are classroom-tested and easy to prep. Let’s dig in.
There are several links at the bottom of this post for your shopping convenience. If you purchase something from one of the links, there will be no additional cost to you, but a small portion of your purchase will be used towards the cost of maintaining this website.
Monster Playdough Activities
Monster-themed playdough trays are a hit with preschoolers.
When you create a playdough tray using loose parts and fun materials, it’s an engaging way to help kids build hand strength. Pipe cleaners, bottle caps, toothpicks, craft sticks—I have so much fun searching around for materials to use.
What to include in your monster playdough tray:
- Googly eyes (the more, the better!)
- Pipe cleaners (for arms, legs, antennae)
- Bottle caps (for eyes or body parts)
- Toothpicks or craft sticks (for arms or legs)
- Pom-poms (for texture and color)
- Beads (for eyes or decoration)
- Binder coils (cut into small sections for springy details)
Teacher Tip
I picked up some fun eye peeper rings and vampire teeth at Target’s Halloween section. The hinged vampire teeth kept opening up and destroying our playdough designs. My solution? Cut the teeth in half at the hinge. Problem solved!
Kids love creating silly monsters with multiple eyes, crazy hair, and goofy teeth. The creations are always hilarious.
Bonus Idea: Create individual playdough kits for your kids. Package playdough with a few loose parts in a small container or bag. These make perfect book gifts or Halloween-themed gifts for friends and families.
Monster Shape & Craft Activities
Shape Monsters
If you love super easy crafts, this one’s for you.
Cut out shapes from brightly colored construction paper—circles, triangles, squares, rectangles. Kids glue them down onto paper, add googly eye stickers, and complete their monster creations with crayons.
I found a great book of eye stickers at my local craft store. You can also find similar ones at Oriental Trading or on Amazon.
This simple activity works on shape recognition, spatial awareness, and creativity—all while making silly monsters.
Cardboard Tube Monster Craft
This fine motor craft is always a hit. Kids punch holes into a section of a paper towel roll, cardboard tube, or cut-up egg carton. Then they add pipe cleaners and binder coils through the holes. Complete the creature with some silly googly eyes.
What skills are they building?
- Hand strength (hole punching is excellent for building those muscles)
- Eye-hand coordination
- Creativity and problem-solving
Monster Tinker Tray
Want kids to create some truly innovative monsters? Set up a monster-themed tinker tray with open-ended craft materials.
Mine includes:
- Paper towel tubes
- Craft noodles
- Bottle caps
- Binder coils
- Googly eyes
- Pom-poms
- Toothpicks
- Craft sticks
- Yarn
- Washi tape
- Glue, scissors, and a hole punch
Let kids explore, experiment, and create. You’ll be amazed at what they come up with when given the freedom to build their own monsters.
Additional Monster Fine Motor Ideas
- Monster Munch Fine Motor Activity by LalyMom – Easy to make and perfect for counting activities
- Monster Munchy Ball from Therapy Fun Zone – Great for strengthening little hand muscles
- Monster Clips from The Craft Train – Fun fine motor practice with clothespins
Monster Math Activities
Monster activities for kids are perfect for sneaking in math practice.
Feed the Monster Activities
This Feed the Monster activity set is one of my favorites. Kids can use it to work on many different concepts:
- Shape recognition – Sort shapes and feed them to the correct monster
- Color sorting – Match colored pieces to the right monster
- Counting practice – Feed the monster the correct number of items
- Number recognition – Match number cards to quantities
It’s a versatile set that works in small groups or as an independent center activity.
Monster Color Sorting & Counting Mats
This sorting and counting activity is perfect for your math center during the Halloween season.
Kids love sorting monster eyeballs by color with this monster color sorting activity. It’s my favorite monster activity that I’ve designed.
The printable set includes:
- Color sorting monster mats
- Monster number cards
- Counting pieces (monster eyeballs!)
What skills are they building?
- One-to-one correspondence
- Number recognition
- Counting
- Color recognition
- Sorting and classifying
This activity looks adorable and keeps kids engaged while building important math skills.
Monster Literacy Activities
Letter M with Googly Eyes
Here’s a silly, hands-on way to help kids learn letter recognition. Draw a letter M on a piece of paper or use my ABC Dot Letters. Kids add “monster eyes” (googly eyes) to the dots or along the shape of the letter.
While they work, they can:
- Practice the “m” sound
- Work on letter formation
- Build letter recognition
- Get fine motor practice placing the eyes
It’s simple, engaging, and perfect for your literacy centers.
Feed the Monster Literacy Activities
The Feed the Monster set isn’t just for math—it’s also perfect for literacy practice!
Use it for:
- Letter sorting (uppercase and lowercase)
- Beginning sound matching (feed the monster objects that start with a certain sound)
- Rhyming activities (sort rhyming words into the monster’s mouth)
Kids love the interactive element of “feeding” the monster, which makes literacy practice more engaging.
Monster Slime Sensory Writing Tray
This activity is a great addition to your early literacy centers.
Salt Tray Version: Use a plastic creature finger to practice letter tracing in a salt tray. Kids can trace letters while making monster sounds—it’s playful and helps with letter formation.
Slime Version: Use laminated monster letter cards. Kids place a blob of slime on the monster’s belly and use a monster finger to trace letters into the slime.
Teacher Tip
Work on letter sounds by encouraging kids to make the sound as they “tickle” the monster. Both lowercase and uppercase monster letter cards work well for this activity.
Older kids can practice writing sight words in a similar way.
Monster Gross Motor & Movement Activities
Monster Puppets
Looking for a fun and easy Halloween movement activity? Make goofy monster puppets with peeper rings in just a few minutes.
How to make them:
- Tie pieces of metallic mesh tube ribbon and pipe cleaners to a hair tie (for crazy hair).
- Place the hair tie over a child’s fingers.
- Add an eye peeper ring.
- Tada! Instant monster puppet.
Use the monster puppets while dancing, singing, and doing gross motor activities.
The perfect music? Monster Boogie by Laurie Berkner.
Kids love making their monsters dance and move. It’s a simple activity that gets everyone up and moving.
Additional Monster Movement Ideas:
- Monster Footprint Hop by Raising Dragons – Jump from monster foot to monster foot
- Monster Walk by The Inspired Treehouse – Practice different monster movements and walks
Monster Books for Kids
Looking for some silly monster-themed books to use during circle time or add to your class library?
I’ve put together a list of my favorite monster books for kids. These books are perfect for showing kids that monsters can be fun, silly, and friendly—not scary.
Check out my Monster Books for Kids list for recommendations.
Ready to Add Monster Fun to Your Classroom?
From playdough trays to literacy activities, these monster activities for preschool kids bring skill-building and seasonal fun together.
Whether you’re looking for Halloween activities or a year-round monster theme, these ideas are classroom-tested and easy to prep. They’re designed with real classrooms in mind—simple to set up, fun to use, and effective for building skills.
Want to grab the printable Monster Activities and have them ready for next week? You can find them in my shop.
Purchase Printable Monster Activities for Preschool Today
Are you ready to get started with some monster activities for preschool and kindergarten? Here are the resources from my store that are mentioned in the article above. Click on the images below to check them out.
Purchase The Printable Activities on TPT
Do you prefer to shop at Teachers Pay Teachers? You can also purchase the Monster Activity Bundle and the Alphabet Dot Activity Pages in my TPT Store.
Monster Craft and Activity Materials on Amazon
People are always asking me where to find the materials that I use on my website. Below are some similar items from Amazon. The links are affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase through my link, Amazon will pay me a small commission for it. This doesn’t cost you anything additional, but these commissions help me maintain my website….so thanks!
