WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

• Storytime Idea ... read "Where the Wild Things Are" by Jon Sendak
• Make several monster cutouts in several different colors (The Mailbox, 2006-2007 Yearbook Preschoo, pg. 201 has a cute monster ready to copy). Cut out several different foods from magazines or ads. Place monsters and food on the floor. Tell the kids that the monsters are very hungry, then name a particular food a particular monster wants, but change the beginning sound. For example: "The green monster would like to have some dananas." Let the kids pick the food the monster wants and place it on his tummy.
• Listening Teeth ... Give the kids a simple monster cutout face with a large mouth (a blue circle with purple horns, eyes, nose, etc) and a napkin with Bugles corn snacks (teeth). Say a simple sentence, like "The monster is hairy." Repeat and pause after each word. Encourage the kids to place one tooth on his monster for each word he hears. Then count the teeth on the monster.
• Make 2 monster cutouts with 2 different paper colors. Attach them to popsicle sticks. Introduce them to the kids as "Beginning Monster" and "End Monster". Tell them that one only knows how to say the beginning of words and the other only knows how to say the end of words. Say several words and let the kids combine the segmented words to figure out what the monsters are saying (ex: pre-school, can-dy, foot-print, car-pet)
• Make a cave out of a cardboard box. Make several cards with rhyming clipart (one card has a pie, one card has a tie ... one has a bell, one has a shell, etc). Place the rhyming clipart cards in the cave and let the kids tiptoe to the cave and quietly pick out 2 rhyming words before the monster comes back to check in!