Le printemps - week 1 - springtime collage

For the first week of our springtime theme, we enjoyed singing a mixture of springtime and Easter themed songs and rhymes including: le printemps est arrivé, Lapin Pistache, poussin poussinet, deux petits lapins ( a variation on 2 little dickie birds) regarde les petits lapins (a French version of sleepy bunnies) and Lapin de Pâques (think teddy bear teddy bear turn around but with Easter bunnies!!)

We had lots of fun joining in with the words and actions and it was lovely to see how many of the words our older little ones could remember from last year :0)

Our first springtime craft was a collage picture.  The children had free choice from the craft boxes and there was a selection of foam animals (lapins, agneaux, chevaux and canards) to choose from to add to the pictures too.

And here they are, looking pretty spectacular and making Springtime and sunshine seem ever closer :0)

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Deux petits lapins...

This Friday was the last toddler session before Easter and so despite the cold and the snow it seemed only right that we should have a song/rhyme and a craft with an Easter theme.


The rhyme I chose is in no way an authentic French Easter rhyme but the language is so simple that toddlers and preschoolers can easily pick it up and join in - and as it is based on a familiar English rhyme the actions are no problem either!


I am sure that you are all familiar with the rhyme "Two little dickie birds", well let me introduce you to "Deux petit lapins" (two little bunny rabbits).  The tune and actions of the rhyme are exactly the same, but the words have been altered to fit an Easter theme.


Deux petits lapins
Assis près du lac.
Je m'appelle Jean
et Je m'appelle Jacques.
Au revoir Jean,
Au revoir Jacques.
Rebonjour et
Joyeuses Pâques!

To accompany our bunny rabbit rhyme, I chose a lovely Easter bunny mask craft that I came across on Pinterest.  To make your own, you will need:

A paper plate,
white paper,
pink paper,
black paper,
a pencil,
a craft lollipop stick,
scissors,
glue,
sticky tape

1.  Cut out the middle circle of your paper plate and discard.
2.  Cut out 2 bunny ears from your white paper, and two smaller bunny ear shapes from your pink paper.
3. Glue the pink shapes onto the white ears and set aside.
4. cut 6 thin strips of black paper and curl the ends with your scissors to make the whiskers.
5. Using the sticky tape, stick the ears to the back of the plate, the whiskers to the front and the lollipop stick to the bottom on the back to give your little one something to hold when wearing their mask.
And it really is as simple as that!

Here are our fabulous Easter bunny masks:

Happy singing and crafting and we will be back in a fortnight! :o)

 

Joyeuses Pâques!



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)