Pom Pom Monster Craft

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This craft ties in with lessons around emotions and self regulation.

This Pom Pom Monster Craft is a favorite among my students and my own kids alike! The materials are inexpensive and the mess is minimal. Kids don’t necessarily need a reason make pom pom monsters, but setting an intention behind it transforms this craft into a tool for social emotional learning that guides kids through big feelings like anger, frustration, sadness and anxiety.

Below are the materials you need for this craft, and an example of how I would integrate this craft into a lesson plan with the theme of “anger”. This lesson plan could be used in a kids yoga class, or as part of a Social Emotional Learning Unit in an Elementary School classroom. Of course, it can always be used at home and my kids enjoyed many playdates making pom pom monsters!

Materials You’ll Need

• Pom Poms

  • Extra Large, or 2” Craft Pom Poms work best for the “face.”

    • Tip: Oriental Trading Company has a 1lb bag of Pom Poms, or 550 pieces, for only $19.99. I get one of those per year, and use them for all kinds of games, arts and crafts. Since the pieces vary per package, sometimes you have more of one size and less of another. So, if you want to make sure you have enough pieces for a certain number of kids then it’s best to get a specific size, like these 2” craft pom poms that have 60 per bag.

  • Optional: Smaller pom poms can be used for decoration.

• Googly Eyes

  • Black and White Googly Eyes - This 1000 piece pack comes with a variety of sizes: 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, and 12mm. The kids were able to make more interesting expressions and inventions using different sizes. I love that these are self-adhesive and do not require any additional glue. However, toddlers may struggle to peel the backing away if they don’t have nails. With toddlers, I usually use glue dots for everything!

  • Animal Eyes - I love these Dragon / Animal eyes. The only down side is that the self-adhesive isn’t strong enough to stick to pom poms so I recommend using glue or glue dots.

• Face Stickers

  • Facial Expressions - This sticker pack has 10 sheets of eyes and mouths with different expressions. The kids loved doing this craft over and over, so I got different materials to make it a little different each time. I bought the multi-color and black and white stickers, but the kids preferred the multi-color.

  • Monster Faces - This Creative Sticker Roll includes 1,350 Self-Adhesive Stickers -with 13 Monstery Facial Features for Crafts.

• Glue or glue dots

• Optional: Pipe Cleaners

  • Various colors, cut into small pieces

  • Best for kids 5+

• Optional: Scissors

  • Best for kids 5+

• Disposable table-cloth

  • If using glue, definitely use a disposable tablecloth to make cleanup a breeze!

• Plastic containers for materials to share supplies - OR - Ziploc Bags to create individual packets of materials for each child.

  • When I did this craft with 4-5 kids, they were fine sharing.

  • When I did this craft with 20 kids, I prepared the materials in advance and put labels on the outside of each baggy so each child could write their name and put their pom poms (when dry) to take home.

• Egg Cartons

  • The absolute best way to dry pom poms is putting them in egg cartons! This make them easy to move (to clean the table), and easy to transport if needed.

1 —

Move through big feelings

I use this craft to go along with the theme of emotions to teach kids how to calm down. We actually do this craft at the end of class to integrate and model what we’ve learned.

For this example, we’ll use the theme of “anger”. We would start class with movement set to music with an intense, with hard hitting beat (i.e. Imagine Dragons or “Bad” by Michael Jackson). We do simple exercises that get the heart pumping up and require exertion of energy, much like a traditional “Warm Up” in a fitness class. We learn how to safely and effectively move through big feelings by moving our bodies!

2 —

Take slow, deep breaths

After releasing energy, we practice taking slow, deep breaths to return to a calm state. We play calming music and kids are asked to rest in “Starfish” or Savasana.

3 —

Read a Book

Now that the kids are in a calm state, they’re ready to learn! There are many wonderful books for kids about what to do when they feel grumpy, negative or angry. Here are four of my favorites…

1. When the Anger Ogre Visits by Andrée Salom depicts anger as a monster that lives inside of all us that pops out when we’re upset. The story teaches us how to take deep breaths to relax. So, I tied the pom pom craft into the theme by asking the kids to create their own “Anger Ogres”.

2. In A Little Spot of Anger by Diane Alber, kids learn that anger can show up when they’re feeling frustrated, afraid or hurt. This book teaches a technique of pressing or tapping the tips of each finger and counting to help calm down. To tie in the craft to that book, I have the kids to create their own “Anger Spots”.

3. In The Bad Seed by Jory John, kids learn how easy it is to change their mood simply by changing their mindset. So, instead of “Anger Ogres,” the kids make “Bad Seeds”. This book does a great job of illustrating facial expressions, such as furrowed eyebrows to show anger. When we read this book, we discuss where we hold anger in our bodies and what it looks like when we’re angry (i.e. folded arms, stomping feet, clenched jaw and fists).

4. In Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang, we learn that sometimes we just need someone to acknowledge our big emotions and sit with us until the mood passes. On the days we read this book, we make “Two Grumpy Characters” to remind us that friends and family can help us feel better.

4 —

Make Pom Pom Monsters

Now you can see how waiting until the end of class for the craft allows kids to integrate what they’ve learned by creating their own Pom Pom Monsters!

I am always blown away by what the kids create and how they use the materials. For example, my daughter came up with the idea to “distress” the pom poms and create different types of hair! Tearing the pom poms apart can be a way to release frustration, but I encourage them to respect the materials and use them for creation instead vs. destruction.

4 —

Act it out

If you’re working with older kids, like 2nd Graders and up, I would have the kids to use the Pom Pom Monsters to create a play together, or write a story on their own about their monsters getting upset and how they were able to return to a peaceful, calm state again.