Sous la mer week 6 - handprint crabs

Somehow last week whizzed by and I didn't have time to update the blog, so a quick run through of last week's activity now and then over the next day or 2 I will aim to get yesterday's activity added :0)

For the final week of our "sous la mer" theme we got the paints out again.  I had planned to make egg carton starfish - in fact I have been saving egg cartons in preparation for this craft for a few weeks - but despite the simplicity of the craft according to the post I read about it, I found myself unable to cut a starfish shape and wasted 2 whole egg cartons trying!! If anyone can explain in VERY simple step-by-step terms how to do it please add a comment as I can't let this defeat me!!  Anyway, I suddenly found myself in need of a painting craft at the last minute and remembered making handprint crabs with my older children in the past so decided we would give it a go.

You will need:

Blue, yellow, red and orange paints (mix the red and orange to get a nice crabby colour)

Googly eyes 

A toddler that likes getting their hands covered in paint!

First let your toddler paint the sea and sand on the paper - they could use brushes, sponges, rollers, textured stampers etc - our little ones used a combination of the above.

Then let them get their palms and fingers covered in the red/orange mixture.  They will need to print one hand at a time onto the paper sideways on with their thumb upwards.  Make the second hand overlap the first so that the thumb prints form the crab's eye stalks (or whatever the technical term is!).  Then add two googly eyes or eye stickers.

If you want to you can decorate your painting further by adding seaweed, fish etc in the sea.  Our starfish sponge proved a popular addition.

Here are our fabulous crab paintings:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Joyeuse Saint-Valentin! Hearts and hugs

As our toddler French sessions run on a Friday, and as this Friday was St.Valentine's Day it seemed only right to have a valentine's theme for the day.

Instead of singing our l'hiver themed songs this week, each child attending got to choose a song that they love for us all to sing.  The choices included "Brille, Brille, petite étoile", "un éléphant se balançait", "flocon de neige, flocon de neige" and "le petit train" and it was lovely to revisit some old favourites :0)

I pondered all week on what craft to choose, and finally it came to me - un câlin (a cuddle).  Asking for un câlin is one of Little Imp's favourite French phrases at the moment and I was thinking about how much family and friends living further away would love a cuddle from her.  How to make a postable cuddle? Quite simply in all honesty! You will need:

A long thin length of card,

An a4 piece of card,

A pencil,

Glue stick,

Scissors,

Red and pink collage materials - we had a selection including foam, felt, tissue paper, crepe paper, ribbon, wool, stickers, etc

Glitter 

Felt pens/crayons 

First, measure your toddler's arm span with the long length of card and cut to the right length, set aside.

On the a4 sheet, draw around your toddlers' hands and draw a large heart.  Cut out the 3 shapes.

Let your toddler go crazy with the collage materials, glue, pens, crayons and glitter to decorate the heart and hands.

Glue the heart into the middle of the length of card and the hands on to either end.

Add some writing if you wish.  We added the phrase "un câlin pour toi" a cuddle for you.

There you have it a perfect toddler sized valentine's hug, when it arrives the lucky recipient can have a hug from the toddler sized arms :0) so cute! :0) and of course not only suitable for valentine's day, you could make them for any occasion.

Here are ours to give you some inspiration:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Le printemps...

After an unintended break from our toddler group last week with a poorly child, we were back on full form this week and the sunshine peeping through a few times during the week and Spring almost officially here, I decided that we would not have a brand new song this week, rather we would bring back a firm favourite from last year.


The wonderful people at Sparklespeak (www.sparklespeak.co.uk) last Spring very kindly posted a free song on their blog called "Le printemps est arrivé" (Spring has arrived) and it was so popular with our toddlers that we sang it every week pretty much until enough was enough and around about October time I hid the song sheets away for a few months!


You can listen to the song for yourself here: http://sparklespeak.posterous.com/106728605

And here are the lyrics from the chorus and verse one to give you an idea:

Youpi! Youpi! Ça y est!
Yippee! Yippee! That's it!Le printemps est arrivé.
Spring has arrived. Youpi! Youpi! Ça y est!
Yippee! Yippee! That's it!Bonjour le soleil.
Hello sun.
Les fleurs poussent.
The flowers are growing.Et hop!
Hup!

1. Les fleurs poussent.
The flowers are growing.Et hop!
Hup!


Hmm... I don't seem to be able to change my font colour back to black now!!  Oops!

We like to dance around to this song as it has such a fab catchy tune.  We have also made up some actions as follows:
For "bonjour le soleil" we make a big circle with our arms to signify the sun.
For "les fleurs poussent" we start crouched on the ground in a ball and then grow up like a flower.  We repeat this action for "et hop".
For "les agneaux sautent" we jump around like like little lambs.  We repeat this for "et hop! et hop! et hop! et hop! et hop!"
For "les poussins naissent" we hide our faces and then hatch out and for "cui cui cui cui cui cui cui" we make a beak action with our hands

I took my craft inspiration this week from the first verse of the song: "Les fleurs poussent" the flowers are growing and decided that we would make our own flowers that grow before our eyes!

To make your own growing flower, you will need:
a paper cup
a pencil
green craft paper
a pipecleaner
squares or circles of coloured tissue paper
sticky tape
glue stick


1. First poke a hole in the bottom of the paper cup with your pencil, then set to one side.

2.Next draw around your toddler's hands on the green craft paper, depending on the size of your toddler's hands you will need two or three hands to wrap around the cup.  Little Imp is 2 years old and I needed 3 of her handprints.

3. Cut out the handprints and stick them onto the cup using your glue stick.

4. decide what colours you want to use for your flower and lay the tissue paper sheets on top of one another at a slight angle.

5. Use the pencil to poke a hole through the tissue paper sheets in the middle.  Then push the pipe cleaner through and wind it around itself to stop it coming back through the tissue paper.

6. Scrunch the tissue paper around the pipecleaner to make your flower.  You may chose to use the sticky tape to secure your flower to the pipecleaner as well - I did as I know that Little Imp will be a little more heavy handed than me when playing with her creation!

7. Now put the other end of the pipecleaner into the cup and through the hole.  Wind it around itself at the end to stop it coming back through the hole.

You now have a growing flower! :o)

Your flower can be hidden like this










And then when you push your pipecleaner up...

It grows into a beautiful flower!

ooo - the black text is back!!  How on earth did I do that?!?

Anyway, here are our beautiful growing flowers to inspire you!

Happy singing and crafting! :o)





Londres flambe, Londres flambe...

Welcome to 2013!  Little Imp and I wish you all "une bonne année"!

For our first toddler session of 2013, I decided on a French version of an English round "London's burning" and a lovely Fire Engine and Fire fighter craft to go with it.

The lyrics to the French version are as follows:

Londres flambe, Londres flambe.

Quelle affaire, quelle affaire

Au feu! Au feu!

Pas d’eau, rien à faire!

Clearly, it is not such an issue in France if London is burning as rather than pouring on water - they have none and can do nothing!!  Still, a nice simple song for toddlers to learn and join in with though and one which can be sung as a round, which is also nice for a change.

After our sing song, we went over to the craft tables to create our Fire Engine and fire fighter craft.  For this craft, you will need:

• 1 A3 sheet of craft/construction paper for your background
• 1 fire engine template which you can print from here: http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/support-files/firetruck.pdf
• red felt pens and collage materials for the fire engine
• black paper/foam for the wheels
• craft lolly sticks/straws for the ladder
• shiny paper/stickers for the flashing light
• red paper/card for the firefighter hand print
• pink/flesh colour paper/card/felt for the faces
• yellow paper/card/felt/foam etc. for the hats

Once you have everything ready, this is how you make it:

• First, fill in your fire engine with red.  You can either colour it or paint it or, like we did use red materials to make a collage.
• Next, cut out your fire engine and glue it onto your background sheet.
• Now, using your craft lolly sticks or similar glue a ladder onto the fire engine and use your shiny material to add a flashing light on the top.
• Cut out two wheels from your black paper or foam and glue them onto the picture.
• You are now ready to make your Fire fighters.  Draw around your toddler's hand on red paper or card and cut out.
• Glue this onto your background sheet.
• Next, cut out 5 small faces and glue them on to the fingers and thumb on your picture.  Draw on eyes and a mouth with felt pen.
• Finally, cut out 5 yellow hats for your fire fighters and glue on.

Here are our finished pictures:

Happy singing and crafting! :o)