An activity you can start today
Feed the Monsters
Make friendly paper-bag monsters, then feed each one a large paper ball in its matching color.
Know before you start
At a glance
- Setup
- 10 min
- Cleanup
- 3 min
- Mess
- low
- Energy
- calm
- Adult help
- nearby
Before you start
- An adult should cut each mouth through both the paper face and the bag behind it.
- Use soft shapes, cheerful colors, and funny expressions if your child is unsure about monsters.
- One color per monster, pom-poms mixed in a single serving bowl.
Step by step
Let’s play
- Build the monsters. Glue a colored paper face onto each bag, cut a big mouth hole through both, decorate with goofy features.
- Open the restaurant. Monsters lined up, mixed pom-poms in one bowl.
- Announce the rule. Each monster only eats its own color, demonstrate one feeding with chomping sound effects.
- Feeding frenzy. The child sorts snack by snack; monsters say thank you in silly voices.
- Check the bellies. Open each bag and count what it ate, the built-in answer key to the sorting.
The child’s-eye view
Why kids love it
Children get to care for characters they helped create. Pushing each colorful meal through a mouth is satisfying, and the pretend feeding gives color sorting an easy purpose to remember.
Built into the fun
What they’re learning
The green monster eats green food: attaching the sorting rule to a character makes toddlers hold and apply it far longer than abstract matching.
Gripping a fuzzy pom-pom and pushing it through a mouth hole is precise pincer and aim work, repeated dozens of times voluntarily.
Feeding, burping, and putting monsters to bed rehearses nurturing scripts, empathy practice on creatures that can't complain.
Make it fit your child
Ways to change the game
Monster meal count
For children 4 and older, roll a die and give the monster that many snacks. Count each piece as it goes in.
Alphabet appetite
Feed monsters paper 'cookies' with letters, this monster only eats letters from YOUR name.
Post-Halloween retirement
In November the monsters repaint as reindeer with red-nose pom-pom food, the same box works till spring.
Real-life fixes
If it’s not going to plan
The child feeds everything to one monster
Voice the neglected ones: 'the blue monster is SO hungry, listen to his tummy!' Drama enforces the sorting rule better than correction ever will.
Monsters get crushed by enthusiastic hugging
Paper bags are casualties of love, build spares from the start, or reinforce the rims with tape before the first feeding.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What age is Feed the Monsters for?
18 months to about 4.5 years: youngest feeders ignore colors and just post (fine!), 2-3s hold the color rule, and 4s add counting and letter games.
What can I use instead of pom-poms?
Crumpled paper balls in matching colors, jumbo buttons for older kids, colored blocks, or dry cereal for a taste-safe version, anything grippable that fits the mouth hole.
Kidtivity Lab activity guide · Last updated
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