Color Monster Craft for Kids: Teach Emotional Intelligence with a Colorful Twist
Are you looking for an art project that will captivate kids of all ages? This Color Monster Craft is the perfect solution! The monster art project is a great way to encourage creativity and self-expression in young artists.
Don’t worry though, this project is not as serious as it sounds. These fun and easy monster drawings do more than just create monster paintings.
Children easily gain a better understanding of how artists use color to express emotion during this lesson. Having a bad day? Draw a color monster. Remember art is about the process!
Why You Will Love This Art Idea
What is The Color Monster?
The Color Monster is a children’s book by Anna Llenas about a confused and overwhelmed monster who learns to sort his emotions with the help of a little girl. The book is often used to teach children about managing their emotions and different ways to visualize how we feel.
Other Color Monster Books
- The Color Monster: A Pop-Up Book About Feelings
- Color Monster Goes To School
- Color Monster Board Book
What age is this art lesson for?
This project works well with 5 and 6-year-olds. Some of the examples you will see in this post are from 1st graders. However, we know all elementary-aged children love monster art projects (so really this could work for any age).
Read more>>>Easy Flower Art Lesson For 1st Graders
Older Kids Still Love This Project
This project is still definitely fun for them and you can encourage extra details and skills. In previous years when I had an extra class of older kids, this lesson was perfect for us. The kids honestly love being creative and acting like ‘Pixar’ animators.
Questions To Help Discuss Illustrations
- What is the monster feeling? How did you know from the illustrations?
- Can artists or people think different colors go with different feelings?
- If you were one color right now, what would you be? Why?
Supplies you’ll need
Disclosure: We only recommend products we would use ourselves and all opinions expressed are our own. This post may contain affiliate links when clicked, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read our full privacy policy.
What are paint sticks?
Paint sticks are a newer supply that we have started using with children. They are tempera paint in stick form that dries quickly. The kids say they are like paint glue sticks and we think that is a pretty accurate description.
Get all our tips for using paint sticks here.
How To Make A Color Monster Art Project
Step 1: Read Book
Read the book, The Color Monster. Use the questions above or your own questions to help facilitate a discussion on how artists use color to express feelings.
Step 2: Draw Eyes
Start drawing a monster. Draw the eyes first.
Step 3: Draw A Simple Line For The Head
Add a line for the head.
Draw a zoomed-in version or a large monster on the white drawing paper. Children can choose paper orientation.
Step 4: Add Unique Facial Features & Details
Add details to the monster such as horns, mouth, nose, hair and texture. Encourage kids to show a feeling.
Step 5: Use A Permanent Black Marker
Outline with a large permanent marker.
Step 6: Start Using Paint Sticks
Use paint sticks to add the main color to their monster. Encourage students to keep the eyes and teeth white.
This allows there to be enough contrast between the monster and facial features.
Step 7: Add Color To Background
Work on the background using the paint sticks. The main requirement is that you make the background different from the monster.
If the monster has a lot of color inside, leaving the background white also works.
Questions to help them understand the art principle of contrast
- What would happen if you made the monster and the background the same color?
- Would you see your monster?
Step 8: Continue Being Creative Until Artwork Is Finished
Allow kids time to finish their creative feelings monsters.
Art Lesson FAQs
And if you don’t have paint sticks, check out how you could do this project using a glue watercolor resist technique. We haven’t tried it yet, but a monster drawing in glue with paint could be really cool!
This color monster art project is a great first step in talking about feelings with children. Get more ideas at Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child or The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning for more ideas.
If your children loved making this color monster drawing, you could consider exploring this topic further. Some suggestions include: writing a storybook adventure about their color monster or setting up a monster art gallery where kids can talk about their feelings and artworks.
Tips
- You want students to draw largely.
- The drawings work better if kids fill the whole page. To help get students to draw a large monster, start with the eyes. Encourage children to add their details or number of eyes to make their monsters unique.
- Model the proper use of the paint sticks. This may even include how to pull them out of the box
- They can click a little more on the paint stick so they can use the side of the paint stick top at an angle. This will help them do more detailed work.
More Easy Art Projects
Follow us on Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook & Flipboard for more free art and craft ideas!
Keep encouraging those little ones to be creative and showcase their feelings in their art (and color monster art project). This drawing is great because there is no wrong way to do it! Most kids will feel successful and proud of their silly (or serious) artworks. It also allows them to be a little silly and what kid doesn’t love that?
Do you like this art project? Please give us 5 stars below 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 and have fun being creative with your family.
Easy Color Monster Craft For Kids
Equipment
- Pencil
Supplies
- 1 piece 12" x 18" White Drawing Paper
- Tempera Paint Sticks
- Chisel Tip Black Marker
- The Color Monster Book
Instructions
- Read the book, The Color Monster. Use the questions above or your own questions to help facilitate a discussion on how artists use color to express feelings.
- Start drawing monsters. Draw the eyes first.
- Add a line for the head. Draw a zoomed-in version or large monster on the white drawing paper. Children can choose paper orientation.
- Add details to the monster such as horns, mouth, nose, hair and texture. Encourage kids to show a feeling.
- Outline drawings with a large chisel tip permanent marker.
- Use paint sticks to add the main color to their monster. Tell students to keep the eyes and teeth white.
- Work on the background using the paint sticks. The main requirement should be that you will make the background different than the monster.
- Allow kids time to finish their creative feelings monsters.
Notes
- Encourage each monster drawing to be unique and different. You will be amazed at how creative your students or kids can be!
- The drawings work better if kids fill the whole page. To help get students to draw a large monster, start with the eyes.