Practice reading at home with these fun monster-themed activities for kids! Perfect for distance learning, homeschool, or extra practice outside of the classroom, these reading activities will engage kids to make learning fun. Cute monsters make literacy practice less scary or intimidating. Plus a monster theme ties in perfectly to Halloween or a monster unit at school! There are preschool activities, activities for toddlers, and ideas for kindergartners or elementary school children. Try some of these children’s literacy activities and spark a child’s imagination to the wonders of reading!

Monster Reading Activities for Kids

Missing Monster Poster

Pretend that you have a monster friend, but they are missing! Create a missing poster so you can find the monster. Parents, we suggest creating a pre-written template for kids to fill out. At the top write: Help! My Monster is Missing. Then section the paper into squares with prompts that say: My monster’s name is…My monster likes to eat…This is what my monster looks like…etc. Kids can fill in the answers with simple words and draw their own monster. Kids can express their creativity and practice their reading skills. When you are finished with the monster poster, make your own monster out of construction paper.

Monstrous Reading Fun

Read out loud or read together once a day using picture books. Children’s storybooks make reading fun and engaging. They are excellent tools to spark a child’s love of reading. And there are so many books to choose from! To carry on the monster theme, seek out books with furry and adorable monsters! Personalized children’s books are especially engaging, as they feature the child’s name and photo. A custom book like Open This Name features the child’s name throughout. In the story, hilarious monsters help the child put the letters of their name in the correct order. Interactive and funny, this personalized book makes reading a special and enjoyable experience.

Letter Monsters

This literacy activity is a great way to practice your ABC’s at home! Cut out large construction paper letters from the alphabet. Kids can then decorate them to look like cute and goofy monsters! Glue on googly eyes; draw stripes or fur; and attach chenille stems for antennae. Each day, craft a new letter of the alphabet. Then tape them to the wall and practice your letters! Kids will also love playing with their monster letter friends and having them interact. Try using the letters as an introduction to learn words. For example, once you make the letter M you can prompt the child: “M stands for Monkey. Does your monster make monkey sounds? What does that sound like?” By connecting the letter to familiar animal words and sounds, you can help the child with word practice!

Monster Colors

Draw outlines of silly monsters with lines next to them. Have a box in the corner of the paper that has different color names. Kids will choose a color to fill in each monster. Then they’ll reference the color box, find the word that matches their color, and write the name of the color next to the monster. This interactive activity helps children practice reading, writing, and coloring skills.

What is the Word Monster Eating?

This activity is a fun reading game for kids! Draw an open-mouthed monster on a piece of paper. Have a pile of letter cut-outs. The child will select letters, read them aloud, and then spell a word—create words that spell out all the things the monster is eating! Put the word into the monster’s mouth on the paper, to feed him all the yummy letters. Try spelling simple food words like fish, cake, ham, and egg. To make this game really silly, choose funny words like hat, can, yard, and pen. My monster is eating a hat! My monster is eating a leaf!

Label the Monster

Draw the outline of a fun monster face. Draw arrows that point to each facial feature (eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, etc.) and connect them to a blank box. Then create a word bank with all the facial words. Kids will write the correct facial feature in each box. Then they can color in their monster friend. This reading activity helps with word recognition and turns into a coloring page at the end!

Sight Word Monster Spin

This literacy game helps kids learn sight words! For this game, create a cute monster out of a paper plate with a tail spinner that selects sight words to record. First, create your monster spinner out of two paper plates. Draw a monster face and body on the first paper plate. Attach this paper plate to the side of the second plate using a stapler or tape. Cut out your monster’s tale from construction paper and create a pointed end. This will be your spinner. Attach the spinner to the center of the second paper plate with a metal fastener. Then write sight words around the paper plate such as that, of, the, and, me, you, we. You can pick sight words based on your child’s reading level and their grade—whether they are in preschool, kindergarten, or first grade.

For the second part of this game, create a sight word graph. Write each sight word in a different column. When kids spin, they will write the sight word on the graph in the correct column. After 10 spins, kids will answer two questions: Which word has the most spins and which word has the least?

We hope you and your family have a monstrously good time with these monster-themed reading activities! These literacy activities are educational boredom busters for the home that can be enjoyed around Halloween and year-round.

Resources:

https://funinfirst.com/monsters/

https://funlearningforkids.com/editable-sight-word-games/