Monsters don’t have to be scary!
I make it a point of telling my children that monsters aren’t real, they are just toys and characters in movies.
This is why you won’t find any Monster Spray in our house! Why would we need to spray something that doesn’t exist?
If your little one is fascinated by monsters then these kids monster toys will be a great addition to your child’s toy box!
Remember, children learn best when you follow their lead so it helps having toys and activities that they are really interested in.
Along with each toy recommendation I will also provide language and learning tips that will help you play with your child!
Be sure to scroll to the bottom for some monster craft ideas you can do with the kids!
Monster Toys For Kids – Ideal For Open Ended Play & Hands On Learning
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Melissa & Doug Monster Bowling Set
This adorable Melissa & Doug Monster Bowling set is great for young children!
The pins and ball are soft and brightly colored.
Once bowling is no longer fun, the monster pins can be used in many other ways, such as storytelling.
Tips for language and learning
- Counting – count the monsters
- Hand Eye Coordination – roll the ball and try to hit as many pins as you can!
- Fine/Gross Motor Skills – improves balance and dexterity
- Vocabulary – ball, roll, my turn, your turn, knock down, pick up, try again
- Descriptive Words – stripes, soft, smooth, pointy, red, blue, green, etc
- Social Skills – practice turn taking
- Body Parts – eyes, nose, ears, teeth, mouth
LEGO Classic Creative Monsters
LEGO is such a versatile toy for learning through play. These adorable LEGO monsters are ideal for children ages 4 and up. Watch your child have fun while building these 5 little monsters. Click here and here to learn more about the many ways LEGO can benefit your child’s development!
Tips for language and learning
- Counting – count how many pieces are needed to build each monster
- Fine Motor – because the Lego pieces are small and come in different shapes, they naturally allow kids to build and strengthen their fine motor skills
- Following Directions – children will need to carefully follow the directions in order to build each monster
- Talk about what the monsters are doing – for example, the green monster is creeping and crawling, the orange monster is shooting fire from it’s mouth, etc.
- Descriptive words (describe the monsters) – color, pointy, bumpy, smooth, big teeth, antenna, etc.
Gund Monsteroos Beeper The Green Monster Chaser
Gund makes some great, high quality stuffed animals.
Beeper is just one of the monsters in the Monsteroo series, so if you are looking for a different style and color they will probably have it!
I am not going to go in to all of the language and learning tips as I have an entire article dedicated to the learning benefits of stuffed animals!
If you have not read it, here it is: Stuffed Animals For Toddlers: Meet Liz, My Daughters Puppy!
If you are purchasing a Gund Monsteroo for an older child have him/her document the adventures the monster is going on.
Come up with some creative stories and write them down. You can even take pictures and make a monster scrapbook!
Or have a monster tea party. But instead of tea, serve monster sludge.
Melissa & Doug Make Your Own Monster Puppet
Puppets are great for creative open ended play.
But now you can add to the learning experience by making your own puppet!
If you have more than one child you may want to get more than one of these packs as there is only one puppet in each.
However, it comes with 30 different pieces including eyes, noses, mouths, ears, horns, etc.
Language and Learning Tips
- Social Skills – children can work together to come up with a puppet show (assuming you have more than one puppet)
- Fine Motor Skills – a child needs to use their fingers to pick up and release small pieces to attach them to the puppet (with velcro)
- Vocabulary – you can target body parts with younger children as well as some descriptive words such as: soft, bumpy, pointy, sharp, etc. If the child is young work on some basic words and actions to encourage pretend play. Give the puppet something to eat or drink, give the puppet a “bath”, let the puppet go to sleep, etc.
- Prepositions – have the puppet hide in different places: in, on, under, beside, behind, between, on top
- Verbs – the puppet can have fun doing a variety of different actions, for example: jump, run, sleep, eat, dance, throw, etc.
Gobble Monster Game
This is a great family game but can also be played with 2 players. It is best suited for kids ages 4+.
And it comes with a bonus 24 piece puzzle! This game is easy to learn as the premise is to collect as many toys as you can before the monster eats them up (the tongue retracts and all the remaining toys get “eaten”).
Language and Learning Tips
- Social Skills – you and your child can play this game together as a family or with friends. Children will learn to take turns. This is a cooperative games so it’s everyone against the monsters!
- Rule Following – simple board games such as this one teach children about the importance of rules
- Fine Motor Skills – children will need to use their fingers to pick up the small toys as quickly as possible. To make it more of a fine motor challenge, use some jumbo kids tweezers!
- Colors – label the colors of the toys, for example, brown bear, great plane, yellow duck, etc.
- Vocabulary – label each toy that the monster might eat
MonsterOpoly
This game is better suited for older children (5+), but it is a lot of fun. We play it regularly in my house.
Games such as this one teach children about winning and losing and that not everyone gets to be the winner.
When we first started playing this game there were a lot of tears because both kids wanted to win every time.
Now that we have played it many times, there is more laughter than tears!
The premise of the game is similar to monopoly, get the most money (in this case “goosebumps”).
But instead of buying and selling real estate you are collecting monsters such as the “bathtub monster” or the “broccoli monster”.
Each monster comes with a certain number of “screams”. Whenever a player lands on one for your monsters you are to “burp” the number of screams that are owed and then get payed in goosebumps.
It is quite entertaining!
Language and Learning Tips
- Social Skills – turn taking, being a gracious loser (not a sore loser), patience (if you are playing with 4 people)
- Counting – count how many spots you need to move on your turn
- Math Skills – older children can practice adding up how much money they have at the end of the game
- Reading – there are a variety of cards in the game that give special instructions (just like in the real Monopoly game). Older children can try reading these themselves
- Following Directions – examples in this game include “growl like a monster”, “pretend to be a 2 headed monster”, etc.
HABA Highlights Mix & Match Wooden Monster Blocks
These cute, stackable, wooden monsters are perfect for kids ages 18 months and up.
These are a bit different from traditional stacking toys as the post is on the sides instead of through the middle of each block.
Keep reading to learn how many skills can be learned with this toy!
Tips for language and learning
- Body Parts – label “hands, feet, eyes, legs, ears, mouth” etc.
- Parts of a Whole – it may seem crazy, but understanding “parts of a whole” relationships (in this case, there are 3 blocks that make up each monster) is a precursor and sets the foundation for math, language and scientific exploration.
- Pronouns – talk about what “he” or “she” is doing.
- Storytelling – make up stories about adventures the monsters are going on!
DIY Monster Toys For Kids
Take a look at some of these cute monsters you can make yourself or with your kids (depending on their age).
Lego Monsters
How adorable are these guys?
Head over to Frugal Fun 4 Boys for all of the instructions!
Lego is a great way for children to build and strengthen fine motor skills, problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, vocabulary and so much more!
Yarn Pom Pom Monsters
My daughter is 10 and has recently gotten into making pom poms with yarn.
These pom pom monsters are simple enough for kids to make!
And once they are done they can play with them too!
Head over to Lia Griffith for video instructions!
Do your kids love monsters?
What are their favorite monster toys?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Be sure to save this article by pinning any of the images below to your favorite Pinterest boards!
Hi Tanya. We’ve all been afraid of monsters at some point in our life as kids. But you’re right, it’s nice to explain to our kids that those types of monsters don’t exist. And that they’re only characters in movies and cartoons.
The bowling set where the monsters have to be knocked down seems cool. I think my kids would love something like that. I also like how simple these toys are. I hate having to go out and buy packs of batteries. And those toys get annoying after a while.
I chose these toys specifically for their simplicity. As I discussed in the article, children can learn so much from a simple toy. And learning doesn’t always need to be about ABC’s and 123’s! Especially when children are young.
For the first time I see how monsters can really be fun. I love how many of these monsters are brightly colored and have a sneaky smile on them. I really love the bath toy monsters. Hard to tell that they are really monsters. I see how much fun my kids and I could have during our own monster making activities with the Melissa & Doug build a monster kit. Those are really great tips for language and learning. Thank you for these adorable ideas on monster kids toys. Great article!
I love the build a monster kit! It’s like 2 toys in one. My kids had a similar set and loved it.
No doubt these toys are somewhat spooky, but what surprised me was that initially I couldn’t see what could be learnt from these toys until I read this article, the colors, counting, naming and the like. I think this is really creative and helpful for the little kids. I don’t have a kid as of yet but I do have a young nephew who would probably love these toys!
I also realized that to ship these to my country would mean having to pay over 100 $ for a toy that is less than 20 bucks too bad for me. I think I’ll try looking for them in some local sites here. Thank you this is really creative and helpful
Thanks Donny. Parents tend to gravitate to electronic toys when they think of ways children can learn with toys. However, this isn’t a great approach, especially for young children. They need to learn in simple, hands on ways. These monster toys are an example of how toys do not need to be complicated for learning to occur.
Good luck finding some of these toys where you live! I’m sure you will find something.
My kid sister really loves teddy bears. I do not know how she will welcome some of these monster toys but I think it shouldn’t be so much of a big deal for her. I have seen so many times when some kids will be so scared of monsters and this is why they try to make sure their kids are not exposed to it. For my sister, she doesn’t seem to be so scared but I do take her to some movies with monsters in them (kid appropriate of course). I’m sure if she got one of these as a gift she would still like it.
I’m sure your little sister would be fine with any of these adorable monster toys. Thanks for your comment John
As scary as monsters truly are, making our kids to see the fact that they need to see them as just ordinary play things would help to establish the playful spirit in them rather than nursing a phobia for the existence of what is truly not in existence at all. You have shared what most parents would find to be very helpful and you have given a great list of of toys. I know my kids would love the Melissa & Doug Bowling Set!
Thanks for your comment Shelley! I know when my kids were little and went through the “I can’t sleep because there might be a scary monster under my bed” phase my husband and I contemplated getting them some “monster be gone” spray. But after some thought we realized that would not be the best approach as we don’t want them thinking monsters are actually real.
So instead they got some adorable monster stuffies and toys and we kept reminding them that monsters were made for the movies and they were never afraid again and now see them as funny movie characters and fun toys!
To me, this is very informative and enlightening to know of about monster toys. I like the way you have taught your kids that monsters are not real and monster toys are just normal toys that can be played with without having to fear for anything at all in any sense. I’m sure my kids would love the Melissa & Doug Monster Bowling Set. With Christmas just around the corner I am going to add this to their gift list. I love that you have also given ideas for how exactly these toys can be used to help promote language development and skill building in general!
Thanks Bella. Hopefully your kids aren’t scared of monsters either. And if they are, these toys are a great way of showing them that monsters are made up and that these cute toys are nothing to be scared of. I agree, the monster bowling set would make a great Christmas gift!
I think that those bowling sets are really beautiful and i should get them for my little neice at home. I have never really thought that I could use some spooky monster toys to teach some very relevant stuff to kids. This is a very good thing to note honestly. I think that i will personally get this stuffs for her as I said. You have also added how to teach the kid different learning topics with the toys. That’s awesome.
Thanks John! The Melissa & Doug monster bowling set is wonderful and I am sure your niece will love it. I’m glad that you found the article helpful.
Games are indeed a really cool means for kids to relax and have fun, and for my kids, they have grown interest in playing board games. Currently there isn’t any serious game they are playing, but from the list you have given here, and their love for board games, I’ll love to try getting the MonsterOpoly, since its a bit like monopoly, they can easily understand and get along with it easily.
Hi Benson,
I’m sure your kids will love the MonsterOpoly board game. My kids sure did!
My two to three year old class loves Owl Moon by Jane Yolan, Caps For Sale by Esphyer Slodbodkina, they love saying his name, and Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. They also love lots of the books on your list. Thanks!
Hi Beth,
Thanks for your comment. I think you may have left it under the wrong article though as I didn’t mention any books in the Monster Toys for Kids article. I really appreciate you taking the time to look around the site though.
I assume your comment was meant for the Best Books To Read To A Baby article.
Hi Tanya,
Monster toys?? Ha-ha!
These are no ordinary toys, but yet they look cute and fun to play. I wish I had some of these “creepy” toys when I was a child growing up. If I have my pick, I want the Monster Lab. As an adult, (believe it or not) I have different teddy bears, stuffed fish, plush crab, a dog, and Pink Panther. I also have a tiny stuffed bear that sits by my computer.
Really nice review on all these toys and how they can help children with language and learning.
Hi Tina,
Thanks so much for your comment. So many kids are fascinated by monsters. They don’t have to be scary. If your child loves monsters, there are so many great learning opportunities that can be explored with these toys. Who knew that monster toys for kids can promote language development and learning!
Unless the monster has a different meaning, then the answer to that question of monster exist or not is not necessarily the same.
The bowling set can be a way to make kids interesting in bowling, as opposed to bowling being no longer fun.
Honestly, I fund Gund quite creepy. The horns and the two teeth sticking out scares me truthfully.
Hi Tar,
Thanks for your comment. I am not sure what you mean by your first statement. But in our home we know that monsters are made up characters in movies and books. 3 eyed multi-colored creatures don’t actually exist.
My kids love the Gund monsters. They are so soft and cuddly. But to each their own I guess!