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I can be pretty neglectful when it comes to doing math activities with the kids. At the end of the day I look at my lesson plans (just a check list to keep me intentional about covering different topics throughout our week), and I noticed I was consistently skipping the math activities. My solution was to head over to Amazon and order a fun math picture book to read and do activities around. Monster Math fit the bill perfectly! If I keep my promise to myself, I should have several activities centered around this book done and posted to the blog by the end of the month, so stick around for more ideas to come! 🙂

Now on to our art/math activity.

Supplies:

As soon as the Monster Math book was delivered, my oldest son dove right into asking me to read it! He loves other non-scary monster books like There’s a Monster at the End of this Book and Hungry Monster, so this was a sure hit. When buying monster books and products, it’s important to us that the monsters be fun and cute, not scary. We enjoyed reading this book and counting through the silly monsters! Some monsters have two heads, some one eye, but make no mistake they are all adorable 🙂 I knew I wanted  our corresponding art project to be more interpretive and process focused, but still produce a “monster-ish” quality. Blow painting was the perfect solution!

First off, I need to emphasize that using watercolor paper is important here. Liquid watercolors can make regular printer paper get soggy and not turn out as nicely (I mention this because I am the frugal mama who would try to skip over this supply!) Watercolor paper in hand, we started by dropping a few watercolors onto the paper and then using the straw to blow and spread the paint out (this is a great way to teach controlled breathing and and teach words like “inhale” and “exhale”. Even art and math can include some science teaching!)

We only used the primary colors for this activity, and it ended up being the best choice as we were able to see how each color mixed and changed as we continued to blow/paint.

Look at those monster tentacles forming! While we painted we talked and asked questions like “What color monster are we making now?” and “How many monsters have we made?” This was such a fun way to make art! When we felt like the art was done, I filled our Nuby Monster Bowl with googly eyes so we can define where our monsters were at on the paper.

Didn’t this art project come out super cool?!? Here’s a short list of the skills covered with this activity:
  1. Literacy (connect the art with what was happening in the book)
  2. Creativity
  3. Early math skills (counting the monsters and their googly eyes)
  4. Fine motor skills (separating and placing googly eyes on the paper)
  5. Science vocabulary (inhale, exhale)
  6. Color theory (mixing primary colors)

Nuby Monster Bowl Review

The Nuby iMonster bowl comes from the Nuby iMonster line of products. When I saw them, I knew we had to have them! They are great for self feeders who love to have their special set of feeding items. The colors are bright and fun, while the monster characters are cute, not scary (remember, that was a big one for us!) 

Of course the bowl is meant for snacks, but we also like to use it for themed activities like this one (it adds another element of fun to the activity!) The bowl is dishwasher safe and sits on a secure footed (or clawed) base 🙂

What items would your iMonster bowl hold?
Make sure to follow Nuby on their various social media for fun giveaways and information on new and existing products!


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    This product was given to me from Nuby for review purposes, however, all opinions are completely my own.