Sea Monster Madness!
6-8’s
1. Introduction:
Instructions:
1. Ask the children
if they can think of any mythical creatures (Big Foot, vampires, werewolves
etc.) Next, ask them if they can think of any mythical creatures that live in
water.
2. Show the children
pictures of various mythical creatures that you find in books or on the
internet. Provide them with a brief description of each. The following are just
suggestions, there are many more to choose from.
Mermaids/mermen/merrow:
Creatures that have the head and torso of a human and the tail of a
fish.
Selkie: Selkies are seals
that can shed their skin to become humans. They are from Irish, Scottish and
Icelandic folklore.
Dragon: Dragons appear in the
mythology of many cultures. In many Asian legends dragons are associated with
rainfall and bodies of water. They are typically large, wingless creatures with
clawed feet that live in rivers, lakes or ponds. The white O-Gon-Cho dragon of
Japanese folklore lived in a deep pond. Every 50 years the dragon rose from the
pond and became a gold-colored bird.
Water Leaper: A creature from Welsh
folklore that lives in swamps and ponds. It is described as a giant frog with a
bat's wings instead of forelegs, no hind legs, and a long, lizard-like tail with
a stinger at the end. It jumps across the water using its wings.
Lusca: A sea monster from
the Caribbean, resembling a giant octopus.
Loch Ness Monster: A giant creature
(also known as “Nessie”) with a huge rounded body and a long neck. According to
legend, Nessie lives in Scotland in a lake called Loch Ness (Loch is the
Scottish word for lake.)
Kraken: A huge sea monster
said to resemble a giant squid. According to myth, the kraken lives off the
coasts of Norway and Iceland.
Sea Serpents: A giant snake-like
creature that lives in the sea. Sightings of sea serpents have been reported
for hundreds of years.
2. Game: Where’s Nessie
While some people
have claimed to have seen the Loch Ness Monster, there is often a long stretch
of time between sightings – obviously Nessie is good at hiding.
Instructions:
Play Hide-and-Go Seek
in the Library. The last child to be found is the honorary Nessie!
3. Group Craft: Sea Monster Madness
Materials:
-Large strips of
white paper
-Feathers
-Strips and shapes
cut from books, magazines, craft paper, wrapping paper and tin foil
-Streamers
-Yarn
-Scissors
-Glue
-Pencils
-Markers
-Anything else you
can find for decoration
Instructions:
- Beforehand, prepare by
folding the strips of paper lengthwise into three equal parts. The top
section is going to be the head, the second section the body, and the
third section the tail.
- Give each child one of these
folded papers and a pencil. Warn them not to look at one another’s pages.
On the top section they can draw the head of an imaginary sea creature.
Encourage them to be creative. The only part of their picture that should
extend onto the next section of the page is the neck lines (so that
another child can add a body to the monster without seeing the head).
- Fold the paper so that the
head is hidden, and pass the page with the necklines showing onto the next
child. Everyone should not have someone else’s page. Each child can then
add a body onto the necklines on the second section of the page. When they
are done, they can extend two lines onto the last section of the page –
these lines will have the tale added to them.
- Once again, fold the page
over so that the third section of the page (with the two little lines on
it) is the only section showing. The children can then pass their pages on
again, and another child can add a tail to the picture.
- The pictures are then ready
to be opened up to reveal a one-of-a-kind sea creature!
- The sea creatures can now be
decorated with markers, feathers, tin-foil, scraps of paper and whatever
else can be found!
