When I was planning Emma’s birthday party, I knew that I needed a creative group activity. My activity needed to be:
- Accessible to all of the kids attending from two-year-old Anna to Emma’s “sophisticated” nine-year-old friends
- Gender neutral – not something that would be perceived as either a “girl” or “boy” activity
- Easy to set up
- Something that all of the kids could do on their own – even Anna
- Easy to clean up
- FUN!
Emma and I went over several different ideas before settling on this model magic monster activity that was a big hit!
Creative Group Activity for Kids: Making Monsters
Set up for this activity was easy. I had bought this large box of model magic at the end of last year; you can buy model magic packed in larger quantities, but I find this box of many small pouches to be the best value since model magic does not keep once the pouch is open. Having it individually packaged like this means it is easy to keep some on hand without having it dry out.
I laid out several pouches of model magic along with pipe cleaners (from this box of assorted pipe cleaners), an assortment of sizes of googly eyes, and a pair of good children’s scissors to cut open the packs of model magic and to cut the pipe cleaners, where needed.
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The kids really had a great time with this! We had pipe cleaner arms, and pipe cleaner horns. we had model magic people, model magic monsters, model magic monsters, and model magic round guys with white beards and mustaches. It was really neat to see that every single kid took this in a different direction – that is one of the great benefits of using finding an open-ended creative activity with easy-to-use materials!
Mike had a not-planned-when-we-scheduled-the-party work conflict, and I was a little concerned with how Anna would do with me paying attention to eight friends in addition to my own four kids. It could have gotten pretty challenging, especially since she had refused to fall asleep at nap time. A little bit of model magic (red – her favorite color) and eight googly eyes kept her happily busy for over an hour! She watched the other kids play, and arranged and re-arranged the eyes on her little guy.
The kids took their creations home as souvenirs. My kids’ monsters are all lined up on our bookshelves downstairs, and they have seen quite a bit of pretend play action since the party!
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Looks like great fun!
Lucas says – These are AWESOME as you’ve done a craft about one of my favourite things……….MONSTERS! And these are very awesome monsters!!!! Tanks for linking to #minicreations
Great simple idea, my children would love it. They did something similar at a party in the summer and still have their creations! #minicreations
The monsters are so cute! What a fun project!
I should really get some of those small packages of model magic, because you’re right the bigger packages is “use it all now or it’s gone.”
Love this activity. That’s my kids type of craft.
Very cute! What a great all-ages activity.
Brilliant!! I’m so glad it worked well for all the kids at the party!
I’ve never seen model magic – how is it different than play-doh?
You can’t make it at home. It is very lightweight and stickier than play dough when you open the package, but then dries to an almost velveteen finish. It’s pretty magical stuff – I was introduced to it when my sister brought home a project made out of it when she was in sixth grade, and it has fascinated me ever since.
Brilliant – it’s a great multi-age activity!
My kids would LOVE this activity. I don’t have googly eyes or pipe cleaners though… gotta pick some up!
Don’t you love how it’s often the simple things that turn out to be the biggest hits? This is really a fantastic idea!