Seeking Imperfection

This week's Unplugged Theme was "green." For some reason this topic made me think of a book I'd heard of but hadn't actually checked out before: "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberly.

From the back cover:
What has a big bluish-greenish nose, sharp white teeth, and big yellow eyes? It's a Big Green Monster!
But don't be frightened. Turn the pages of this die-cut book and watch him grow. Then, when you're ready to show him who's in charge, just turn the remaining pages and make him disappear.
With Go Away, Big Green Monster!, Caldecott Award-winning author-artist Ed Emberley has created an ingenous way for kids to chase away their nighttime monsters.

I brought it home and told Paige I had a surprise for her (I love this age where any little thing can be a wonderful surprise). I read it to her, and she fell in love with it, asking me to read it to her over and over again. I pointed to the words "GO AWAY" and told her what they said so that she could help me read them. I waggled my finger at the end where the book says, "And don't come back, until I say so" and she copied me and then would ask me to read it again. We then pretended to be monsters, with her calling me "Momma Monster" and me calling her "Little Monster."

A couple of days later she requested I read the monster book again and crinkled her fingers at me like monster claws.

I had a couple of ideas of things that could go along with the book, such as making monster face cookies, but we didn't get to it. It might be something to think about again around Halloween. :) I tried asking her to draw her own monster, and I think she's just a little too young for that because she tried to copy the monster in the book and got frustrated because she couldn't draw what she was seeing. I wanted her to draw her own monster, and she wasn't ready for that concept yet.

I stumbled across a printable for the book. I printed it out and cut out the different monster body parts. Paige immediately told me that we needed tape to tape the pieces on. (She loves tape.) I explained to her that if we taped them on we wouldn't be able to take the parts off when we told the monster to go away. I then read through the book and had her add the body parts onto the face as I read the page, and then had her remove them as I read about them. She enjoyed this and we did it several times. She even requested it another time on her own when she saw the pieces sitting on the table. ("Let's do this!" she'll say.)

I'm toying with laminating the pieces and maybe putting a bit of magnet on the back to make them a little sturdier for her. I also thought it'd be fun if I could make or find more monster parts for her so she could mix and match and make her own monster faces. Who knows if I'll ever actually get that far, but for now, I think we've found a new book to add to our collection.