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3-D Feelings Puzzle

This activity can help children confront and tame their fears by creating a silly-looking 3D creature puzzle from boxes.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Recycled Cardboard Box

Steps

  • Step 1

    Fear of monsters is quite common in childhood. It even has a name: teratophobia from the Greek "teras" meaning malformation and "phobos" meaning fear. Read a book such as "I'm Not Scared, You're Scared" by Seth Meyers and Rob Sayegh Jr. or "Good Night Thoughts" by Max Greenfield and James Serafino. Discuss how facing "monsters" and altering perceptions can help manage our fears.

  • Step 2

    Divide the class into groups of four, using as many similar-sized boxes as you need to have all students engaged. Give each group several pieces of paper. One group will draw four different looking heads. Another group will illustrate four different bodies (which could include arms). Another group will make four lower torso and leg/feet images. Any remaining students will create top of head images to glue onto the sealed boxes. Encourage them to use colorful and imaginative images in their drawings.

  • Step 3

    Have students bring their art to a central planning area and glue four illustrations of creatures' heads onto the four sides of one box. Using another box, have students glue the four body illustrations on the sides of that box. Another box will have the four leg illustrations glued to the four sides. If anyone made top of head images, those would be glued to the one top of the boxes with the head illustrations. 

  • Step 4

    To play with the 3D puzzle, have students stack the boxes in any order they would like. Then have another group gather the collection of boxes and reorganize them into a stack that forms another silly mismatched monster. Have students discuss how rotating the images affects their perception of the monsters' personalities and their own feelings (conquering fear with silliness).

Standards

SEL: Self-Awareness: Understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts

SEL: Self-Management: Manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. 

Adaptations

Have students write and perform a short play, either in groups or as a whole class, using the monsters they created. 

Ask students to create a 2D Monster Match concentration card game. They can put two unlined index cards together and  draw a monster, putting half on one and half on the other. Then gather and shuffle everyone's cards and arrange them facedown for a fun monster matching game.