Lately we have been having a big problem with tattling, and it’s driving me crazy! We have been trying very hard to teach the kids about the importance of working together, playing nicely and most important we don’t need to know every little “she took my car” or “he won’t share with me!”
Introducing the newest addition to our family, Murry the Tattle Monster!
Here’s how Murry came to be…One of my sister’s teacher friends pinned this on Pinterest & I repinned immediately and started thinking about how I could use it to help eliminate some of the tattling at our house. I re-created the poem to match our cute little monster, you can download it here.
My kids are young, so I knew I would need a visual to help get the point across. I was going to sew a monster, but after a little search on Pinterest (I think I need an intervention!) I saw these cute monsters made out of tissue boxes and light bulbs went off, I’ve got it, they can feed the monster their tattles instead of telling me!
I spray painted an empty tissue box.
After it dried I added some polka dots using craft paint and the end of a paint brush.
While the paint dried I drew some teeth on white craft foam and cut out.
Next, I got the eyes ready. I used egg cartons and glued googly eyes on them.
Now it’s time to bring your monster to life. Use a hot glue gun and glue the teeth and eyes on.
Now, we’ve got a friendly and hungry little monster who is ready to eat all those tattles!
Since my sister gave me the tissue box, she talked me into making one for each of the teachers on her team since they will all be introducing the Tattle Monster to their kindergarten kids this year as well. The kids had fun helping me decide what each one should look like and they were very excited to have these cute little monster’s hanging out with us all weekend. Meet Murry’s friends…
I’m sharing these little guys here:
Mariah Leeson is the creative mind behind www.gigglesgalore.net. With a passion for celebrating, Mariah created Giggles Galore to inspire families to celebrate life’s little moments with creative, budget friendly ideas. She loves cooking, reading, crafting, hosting parties and most of all spending time giggling with her family.
Latest posts by Mariah (see all)
- How to Paint Woven Baskets with Acrylic Paint - March 18, 2019
- Cricut Maker DIY Rainbow Bookends - March 14, 2019
- How to Use the Cricut Knife Blade with Cricut Maker - March 6, 2019
https://www.pinterest.com/gigglesgalore/
OK, these are pretty much the cutest things EVER.
I hope you'll link them up on Friday for Share the Fun at Little Lucy Lu!
I might have to feature them either way! 🙂
AWESOME!
~Bec
http://www.littlelucylu.com
Too Cute! I have been working with my little ones about tattling too. I bet the teachers will love them!
Christy
What a fantastic idea!! I've really been struggling with this lately, too! Thanks for the great idea!!
SO clever! Love it!
These would be fantastic decorations (maybe even game props/accessories) for a Monster Party!
These are so cute, they would be awesome valentine boxes too!
Adorable! I made something similar for Kaboose a couple of years ago, only I used a sandwich bag box. Love these!
I was out searching for kid's crafts to feature on Fun Family Crafts, a site similar to Craftgawker (but kid's crafts only) when I came across this. I would love it if you would submit it! http://funfamilycrafts.com
This is so cute! And such a neat idea
I was thinking I needed one of these for my classroom before I got to that part of the post! Super cute!
So much fun! Love the picture. Really caught my attention. 🙂
I LOVE this idea!! I really hope you'll come and link it up at my Marvelous Mess party here: http://www.marvelouslymessy.com/2011/08/marvelous-mess-27-and-features.html
So cute! And even better if they work!! If you get a chance, I would love to have you link up to The Creative Spark tomorrow night. Thanks again for sharing!
Jenn 😉
http://www.cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com
I LOVE this idea! I get so sick of tatteling in my house that I am definitely going to make one of these!
This is darling, we definitely need one of these guys around our house!
Carlee
http://www.ladybirdln.com
Adorable! Reminds me a little of my Pizza Box monster, but mine was just for fun. Yours is gonna be a lifesaver, for sure! I saw you at Flamingo Toes link party.
…and I'm your newest follower! Just realized that I have visited before and adored your Strawberry Shortcake party.
This makes me so happy~ I love how it turned out! So cute! Thanks for sharing!!!
Ha ha ha. This is so cute and such a great idea! I just found your site through a blog party and am happy to be a new follower. I would love for you to link your post up at my Savvy HomeMade blog party at
http://www.homesavvyatoz.com/blog-party-4
I love this idea!
This is such a great idea! I hope you will keep us posted on if it works for the kids. The monsters are adorable. I hope you will share this on my Delight Me party over at Doodles & Doilies!
http://doodlesanddoilies.blogspot.com
Now, that is just too cute and an awesome idea! I've featured you today at http://www.craftbuds.com/fresh-picks-for-wednesday-8-24-11/
These all turned out so cute! Plus, it is a super idea!
VERY cute! Love the teeth especially!
this is awesome! so creative and helpful for little ones. I'm a new follower! and excited to see future posts.
kathryn
http://www.thedragonsfairytail.blogspot.com
Genius, Mariah! Hope it works!!
LOVE the idea of tattle monster-so creative!…oh how i needed one of these when i taught first grade! right now i'm thinking i need a “whine monster” for my sweet little 4-year-old. i can just hear myself…”go tell it to the whine monster sweetie” 😉
I LOVE IT!!! What an amazing idea!!!
Thanks for the idea. I am featuring monster things on my blog today, and am featuring this.
http://www.raspberriesandruffles.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for linking up your tattle monster at Savvy HomeMade Monday. We are partying again and I hope you will stop by! 🙂
OK HOW AWESOME IS THIS IDEA – I AM GOING TO SHARE IT ON KREATIVE RESOURCES!
Pinned these guys too to make for a book activity later this year. Love how you adapted for a tattle monster. May have to give that some thought for around here also.
They turned out great! Thanks for the share.
This is genius! So adorable. If I ever have a problem with tattling later down the road, I hope I don't forget this. Bookmarking it in the meantime.
Thanks for linking up to my Delight Me party! I love this idea. My son who is 9 months old is starting to throw tantrums…any ideas? I hope you will link up some more of your great projects.
What a fantastic and fun idea!! I'm going to share this on my crafty facebook page : )
Jaimee @ craft-interrupted.blogspot.com
Nice. I might have to make one of these, too. I have a big soft pillow shaped like a cell phone in the cozy corner. When the students start to tattle on a friend, I remind them to go call someone on the phone and tell them.
LOVE IT! This is a big problem with my kids right now to.
I featured you today – thanks again for the permission to do so!
http://kreativeactivities.blogspot.com/2011/08/tattle-monster.html
What a great idea!!! http://bellesbazaar-heather.blogspot.com/
These are absolutely precious!
I might have to make them for my teacher friends, since I don't have any tattlers just yet…we'll have our first baby girl in about 4 weeks and the only tattlers might be the dogs 😉
Biz
This is wonderful! I am going to make one ASAP for my classroom…and maybe all the other 1st grade teachers…and maybe my son's teachers. Thank you!
So here is a funny. I look at your blog frequently and never realized whose blog it was. So glad to see I am related (by marriage) to such a crafty woman. Thanks for the ideas!!!! Hope all is going well.
So great!! I'll make one with my daughters – maybe even a whole shelf of them 🙂 So cute!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!! We've been discussing a box for writing down tattling issues but these are SOO much better!
Mariah,
I'm working on a post about Halloween crafts to do with kids for TLC's Parentables website. May I have your permission to use one of your photos and link to this post?
I'd appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Brittany
These are the cutest things and couldn't have come at a better time. I am just about ready to pull my hair out, the tattling MUST stop! Thank you so much. Guess what I'm doing this weekend.
I just found your blog seeing this picture on Pinterest…how great are these!?!?! Thanks for an amazing idea!
~Fern
Fern Smith’s Classroom Ideas!
Fern…Me too. I just saw it there too. So crazy. A very cute idea too. I have a tattle jar right now, but this is way cuter plus I don't have to buy any candy with this one!
-Lauren
http://www.weeklyhive.blogspot.com
I love this idea! I blogged about it here. http://afewextraminutes.blogspot.com/2011/09/tattle-monsters.html
What spray paint did u use? Was a gloss involved?
Hi Hkracht – Thanks for stopping by. For this one I used a Krylon gloss spray paint, but I also used a satin spray paint from Valspar on some of the others. I didn't spray any kind of protective coating since I didn't anticipate much wear & tear. So far Murry is holding up and surprisingly working well with the kids. 🙂
Ohhhhh this is SO what i need right now…..I am totally making this asap…..my girls are driving me nuts tattle telling….ha!! THANK YOU!!!!
Thinking about using this idea for upcoming Halloween party. I'm thinking those folding paper towels from Sams might dispense perfectly out of the monsters mouth. If not then a really really cute decoration!
GREAT blog!! love these monsters:) I linked you to my Facebook to let my fans know about you!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/SimpleSmiles/141023512654235
THESE ARE SOOO PERFECT for each of my class make one of their own. They will sit onto top of their cubbie…so they can go and tattle to their Tattle Tale Monster. I found YOU from a Pinterest post and laughed my bottom off…not to mention calling my co-worker and telling her to remind me to show her the post. THANK YOU for a GREAT idea to combat the dreaded…”??? took my ??? from me!”
PS…I added a pair of cheap reader glasses with google eyes glued to my sample!
Oh, what a great way to reuse tissue boxes! I never had a problem w/tattling – of course, I only had one! LOL
Would you like to visit our Linky Party too and add your post? I'm always looking for things to do with those things and this is exactly what we're talking about this week: “Creative Final Resting Place”
Our 'Conservation' blog is fairly new yet getting quite a bit of traffic and ranking very well already.
You are welcome anytime!
Thank your consideration,
Pam Hoffman
http://conservationofeggs.blogspot.com/2011/10/3rd-conservation-linky-share-ways-that.html
I have a tattle ear but this is WAY cuter!
I found this on Pinterest and I am sharing it on my blog linking back to you! I LOVE this and this was the topic of discussion at school last week.
littlemisskindergarten.blogspot.com
This is incredible! Thanks so much for a great idea! Pinning to this post!
Very cute! I posted a link to this on my blog…thru my pinterest board.
Thanks!
Jennifer @ The Craft Barn
So cute…. I don't have a tattling problem at my home (only one child… who's he going to tattle on? me? LOL) I think I'll use your idea as inspiration to make my son's Valentine's box this year. Instead of the Tattle Monster, he'll be a Love Monster. {Giggle}
THANKS for sharing.
I just saw this on Pinterst, what a FANTASTIC idea!
Found this on Pinterest and loved it!! We immediately got out the wrapping paper (too late for spray painting) and created our own Tattle Monster! Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE the “Tattle Monster Box”!!! When I first say this, I immediately thought of Valentine Boxes!!! What a fun what to create your Valentine Box to take to school or make with your students!!! 🙂 Thanks, T-Shurtz
I LOVE the Tattle Monster Box!!! But when I first saw the box, I immediately thought of “what cute Valentine Box”!!! This would be a fun way to create your own box to take to school or to do with your students!! Thanks for sharing!!
I LOVE the Tattle Monster Box!!! But when I first saw the picture I immediately thought of Valentine Boxes!! What a cute way to create a box to take to school or to make with your class. Thanks for sharing!!!
We used this idea for a valentine box! Thanks for sharing! (Found on Pinterest.)
Adorable! Do you have the poem available for download? A search brought me to your site but I don't see where I can download it!
Hi Kim, thanks for the sweet comment. I would be happy to send you a copy of the poem, just send me an email with your email address.
Hi – I think you pinned my monster tissue boxes. http://adaywithlilmama.blogspot.com/2011/05/monster-first-birthday-party.html
But they are not coming up in your pinterest links in your post. Could you please fix that? I'd appreciate it, thanks.
Mindy
Love this idea, I found you on Pinterest and am going to share this on my blog linking back to you.
Kaylee's Education Studio
I LOVE this idea! Thanks for sharing!
This is one of the cutest ideas I've ever seen. I just created these monsters with my 4th grade students. I had them create their own monster and then write a story about him/her. I blogged about it and I put a link to your site on my blog so that people can see how you did yours also. Thanks for the great idea. If you want to see my blog, visit:
http://theresourcefulteacher.com/index.php/bulletin-boards/64-monster-bulletin-board
That is so cute!!
When my son gets old enough to start tattling, I'm definitely trying that!
I used a tattle box when I was teaching 6th grade English because I figured it would either help with their writing skills (“I need details”) or make them realize if they were too lazy to write it all out, then it must not have been that important. I wish I'd had your creative idea back then – I love the monsters! I would've also loved for them to say, “That's too baby-ish for us” so I could remind them, “So is tattling”. Ahhh, coulda-woulda-shoulda! Thanks for sharing!
I found this pin on Pinterest and am so glad I found your blog! I'm a new follower! You had me hooked with this adorable project. I repinned this and plan on making it with my kiddos soon (we're having the same tattling problem). I would love if you stop by and share this at my linky party this week! 🙂 http://www.artistic31mama.com/2012/05/fabulous-fridays-linky-party-10.html Thanks!
Thanks so much for linking up at last weeks linky party!! I love this post! I think every house needs a tattle monster. 🙂 You have been featured at this week's linky party http://www.artistic31mama.com/2012/05/fabulous-fridays-linky-party-11.html Be sure to grab your featured button. I also shared this post on my Facebook page and Pinterest. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I'm going to try to make these tomorrow. Wish me luck.I'm your newest follower. If you get a chance visit my blog “Calling Plays in 2nd Grade”.
Thanks,
Shanell
I am in love with these little guys! And considering I have 2 little girls that LOOOOOVE to tattle, this just may be the best invention ever. Thanks so much for sharing!
Hey, I made the Tattle Monster and let everyone know I got the idea from you. Check him out. Thanks
http://www.callingplaysin2ndgrade.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-love-made-it-monday.html
Hi Mariah! Just wanted to let you know I gave your Tattle Monsters a shout-out on my new school counseling blog … I (Heart) School Counseling. Thanks for sharing the awesome idea!
Hi there! I had the same problem last year with the tattling…constantly! So, I would like to give this a try. I was just wondering how it worked out for you? Did you notice a drop in the amount of tattling?
Hi Kelly Shults! Yes, we noticed a huge difference in the tattling in our house. The kids started to think about their actions and found it was better to work things out then to have to come spend time with Murry (and consequently not be playing!) Good luck, I hope it works for you too!
Fab idea which i'm thinking i could utilise for chores and the like, tfs 🙂
Great idea that I just had to make myself and with doing so posted a link on my Blog back to you for the original idea. Thanks
These are adorable and a fun way to teach a lesson!! Pinning!
<3 Christina at I Gotta Create!
Wildly Original Linky party is open!
This is a clever way to recycle and create with kids, my kids will love it. Just one more use for the egg carton 🙂
I found your cute idea while browsing for activities to do with the book, I need a Monster. I love it! We use a book at the beginning of the year called Tattle Tongue. I would probably add the polka-dotted, yellow and long tongue from that book to yours… but i ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Thanks for the ideas. chris
I adore these little tattle monsters! Is the poem available for download? I’d love to use it in my classroom.
Thank you! Yes Kelsey, you can click on the link in the blog post to download the document.
These are so much fun!! What a clever idea!
Your tattle monster is so cute! I was wondering if the poem was available for downloading
Your Tattle Monsters are so cute ! Could you please email me the poem
STAY OPEN MINDED AND HEAR ME OUT…..I understand your concept and what you are trying to solve for. However, this concept has backfired EXTREMELY hard on many kids. They are now misunderstanding when you should talk to an adult (depending on their age, this may not be appropriate!). You say above to tell when you are hurt. Well what does that mean? Physically hurt or hurt feelings. My nephews school had this same concept. They kids were told to talk to the monster. The kids now feel like they are supposed to keep secrets and not tell people about things that have happened.
God gave you children for a reason. It’s your responsibility, and yours only to help them, guide them, and TALK to them. You don’t send them off to talk to an empty tissue box called a MONSTER. How does a 3-4-5 year old have the mental capacity to distinguish….they don’t! Sorry, but you totally missed a great opportunity on this one.
Nick, thanks for your comment and your feedback about how you feel about my Tattle Monster. I appreciate your point, but also want to point out that the Tattle Monster in MY HOME (which is all I can specifically speak to) is not used to replace talking to an us (or other adults) about feelings or things that are on their heart and mind. In my home I use it to help teach my kids that they are capable of solving problems and working out solutions without me intervening every 10 seconds (ex. “Mom, he took my toy” or “Mom, she isn’t cleaning her room”) Our children have an open relationship with us and know that they can talk to us about anything and we do TALK to them. We talk at the dinner table, we talk in the car, we talk at bath time, we talk at bedtime and most importantly we TEACH our children, which is simply why I created the Tattle Monster in the first place. It was an opportunity to teach my children and guide them to become helpful, caring, and respectful of others.
I have just found your site, and I love the tattle monster! Could you please send me the poem that goes wth it? It will be great to use in my classroom. Thanks so much!!!
Thanks for checking out one of my favorite little projects here at Giggles Galore. You can download the poem directly from the post by click on the link in the post, but I will also send you a copy via email. Enjoy!
Every idea and article you post is full or creative fun. This is genius for little toddlers and teaches them a lot.
These are so cute I would make up stuff to rattle just so I could feed them! Adorable and a great lesson. Love it!
This is adorable! I’m going to pass this post onto my girlfriend who’s a kindergarten teacher.
So cute! and so simple to make! I love that you can play with shapes and colors to create your very own monster 🙂 (pinned!)
Thanks Noa, even after all these years our Tattle Monster is still one of our very favorite projects we ever created!
I always used this idea in my 1st & 2nd-grade classrooms. It was hilarious to read through all the notes at the end of the day – you’d see a note from a child complaining about another, then THAT child would write a note, then later in the day, there’d usually be another note from one of them saying to ignore the other notes because they were friends again. I think it helps just for them to know they’re heard.
I agree Lisa, it really helped my kids learn to work some of their problems out on their own. I won’t always be there to solve things or referee so having a way for them to work through and solve their problems on their own in a fun way was super helpful. And like you said, by the end of the day those BIG problems had usually worked themselves out and everyone was happy again! 🙂
Super cute! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party! I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm. We love partying with you! Lou Lou Girls
LOVE IT! LOVE IT! I’m a nursery school teacher and I have a class of 10 3 and 4 yr, olds. I’m constantly saying..”We don’t tattle in school”.
Some days I have 3 to 4 children come up to me at ONE TIME!!
This tattle monster will be a GREAT project for my class to make at the art table..Thank you so much! You saved me!
I’m a nursery school teacher in N.E. with a class of TEN 3 and 4 year olds. I’m constantly saying “We don’t tattle in school”, Some days i have 4 to 5 children running up to me to tattle on a playmate.
This tattle monster will be a great project to make at the craft table!!
THANK YOU! You saved my sanity
-Lisa
Lisa, I’m so happy to hear that you will be using this idea in your classroom. It really is a fun way to teach the kids that they don’t need to tattle, it truly helped my kids learn to work things out and solve some of their problems on their own. Good luck, I hope it helps!
They work as awesome valentine boxes!!!