# Monster Balloon Tea Party
> Blow up balloons, draw monster faces on them, and throw the 'monsters' a pretend tea party with cups, cookies and stuffed-animal guests. It's a playful way to help preschoolers who are scared of monsters and the dark.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/easing-your-childs-fears-with-play/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low
- Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group
- Skills: social-emotional, pretend-play, drawing, language

## Materials (one batch)
- Balloons
- Markers
- 1 piece Sticky tape (household)
- Cups (play or real) (household)
- Cookies (play food or real)
- Lemonade (optional)
- Favorite stuffed animals (optional) (household)
- 1 piece Small table (kid-size) (household)

## Substitutions
- Instead of lemonade: Fruit punch (Big S suggested lemonade or fruit punch.)
- Instead of cookies: Pretend play food (The photos show wooden play cookies.)

## Safety
- An adult blows up and ties the balloons.
- Uninflated or popped balloon pieces are a choking hazard for young children. Supervise closely and pick up broken pieces right away.
- Latex balloons can trigger latex allergies. Check for allergies first, and use latex-free balloons if needed.
- Use non-toxic markers.
- If you serve real lemonade and cookies, check for food allergies first.

## Steps
1. Talk together about the monsters and decide to invite them to a tea party.
2. Adult: blow up and tie some balloons.
3. Draw monster faces on the balloons and give each monster a name.
4. Set up the table with cups and cookies for the guests.
5. Tape the balloon monsters to the table so they sit up.
6. Invite your favorite stuffed animals to join the party.
7. Serve the monsters lemonade and cookies.
8. When the party is done, pull the balloons off the table and bounce them.

## Tips
- Let your child lead. Right about now, the seriousness melted away and fun set in. She had so many ideas for drinks, food and guests.
- Share the drawing: 'You can draw some and I can draw some.' She drew a few and even named them: Scrubber face and spiky guy!
- It doesn't have to be tea. We liked lemonade better.
- Before the party we also walked into all the rooms together, turned on the lights and made sure there were no monsters or trolls in our home.
- Skip another long real-vs-pretend lecture. At this age the concept of real and fake is still a bit hazy, so we had fun playing with those pesky guys instead.
- Did it work? Kinda. However, some new guys just moved in!

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

Calling all monsters and trolls- It's a tea party! Like many preschoolers out there, Big S is also scared of monsters and darkness in general.I'm sitting here wondering, how I can help ease Big S’s fears of darkness and monsters. Her imaginations run so wild that she cannot control her thoughts. The girl can concoct some serious scary stuff ( future horror movie maker!).

- We walk together into all the rooms, turn on the lights and make sure there are no monsters or trolls running in our home.
- We talk about them, we re-assure her that her room and our home is a safe place, but boy her imaginations get the best of her.
- We talk about what's real and what's not.

But after all these, she can even make me think at-times – Is there something lurking up there? Did she really see something? God! I hope not. I'm just kidding. Even though, it is all a normal part of growing up, helping her cope with her fears is easier said than done. Well, this what I said during one of those long conversations about monsters. Me: You know what ? Let’s invite all those pesky monsters and throw them a tea-party. She looked at me like “ mom are you kidding?" Big S : Aaaa.. okay – May be they will be my friends and don’t scare me anymore – right mommy ? Me: Of course! May be they will even leave because you were so nice and never come back to bother you. I had no clue where I was going with this, but since she was also on board with the idea, I guess we wanted to give it a shot . What's the worst that can happen – "Mommy they are back again ?" Worth a shot I thought. Well , we got busy planning . Me : Now, where can we find them S ? Big S : I don’t know. They might be hiding mom. Me: Well let's draw their face on the balloons and pretend. Big S : Oh ya.. you can draw some and I can draw some. I went with that. We got busy blowing up some balloons and giving our pretend monsters some face. She drew a few and even named them – Scrubber face and spiky guy !



 Right about now, the seriousness melted away and fun set in. It became all about drawing faces on balloons and setting up their table and finding them food to serve. She had so many ideas. Big S : Let's make lemonade, or may be fruit punch. Monsters don’t drink chocolate juice ( that’s her Chocolate soymilk) right mommy? We also need sticky tape to make the monsters sit at the table. Big S : Mom, I need my giraffe and my humongous bumble bee to come for the party too.









 We set them all up and lemonade & cookies served. I know it’s a tea-party- but sorry folks- we liked lemonade better.  She was so happy . When it was all done, she pulled the balloons off the table and bounced them with her Lil sister and had a blast – literally. Now the big question y’all want to ask – Did it work ? The reveal - Kinda. However, some new guys just moved in! Moms Mini SoapBox You might also ask by having a tea party, am I letting her buy into the concept of monster? But you know what guys, the whole talk about "Monster are not real they are pretend" goes way over her head. At this age, even though they know pretend food, dress up, pretending to be a pirate or princess, the concept of real and fake is still a bit hazy. TV scares even though they know it is just TV. It just scares them. So instead of bombarding her with another long drawn out pretend/ real lecture we had fun playing with those pesky guys. Shared on [Kids Co-op](http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/), Cheeriosandlattes, [Suday Showcase](http://www.inspirationlaboratories.com)
[Rainy Day Mum,](http://rainydaymum.co.uk) Made by little hands Mondays