Noël week 2 - handprint Christmas tree canvases

This week we again sang our selection of Christmas songs and I decided it would be nice to make a proper keepsake craft either for our toddlers to keep or to give as a Christmas gift.  Little Imp has decided that she would like to give hers to her grandparents and so it is now wrapped and under the tree :0)

Obviously you can buy special acrylic paints to use on canvases but these don't really mix well with toddlers so we just used our usual washable poster paints in a variety of colours.  Our toddlers used their handprints to make the tree itself and fingerprints for the baubles.  They then added the trunk, star and a pot if they wanted on using a bristle or foam brush.  

I think the results are fab and there will definitely be one delighted set of grandparents in our house on Christmas Day :0)

We have one more Christmassy toddler session to go before the big day arrives but until then Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Nous chantons joyeux Noël...

Tonsillitis gone, voice back and so it was back to toddlers as usual this morning  :0)

Having missed last week's session I wanted to try and cover the songs I had planned for both weeks and so there are 3 new songs this week.  All of course with a Christmas theme, and a lovely Christmas tree craft to accompany them.


The first song up is my reinvention of the Christmas classic "We wish you a merry Christmas", " Nous chantons joyeux Noël".  Sung to the same tune but a bit more toddler friendly and action focused, the lyrics are as follows:

1. Nous chantons joyeux Noël,

Nous chantons joyeux Noël,

Nous chantons joyeux Noël,

Et une bonne année!

2. Nous frappons joyeux Noël,

Nous frappons joyeux Noël,

Nous frappons joyeux Noël,

Et une bonne année!

3. Nous sautons joyeux Noël,

Nous sautons joyeux Noël,

Nous sautons joyeux Noël,

Et une bonne année!

 

This got us all warmed up on this cold, wintery morning and was popular with all our toddlers.

 

Song number 2 is sung to the tune of "Frosty the snowman" and I'm afraid I can't take the credit for this one.  It is one that I stumbled across a long time ago and have used with children in school each Christmas since.  I'm afraid I have no idea where it came from and so can't credit the author.  It is a super little song though and I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as we did this morning.  The lyrics are as follows:

 

Je m’appelle Frosty.

Je suis un bonhomme de neige.

J’ai deux yeux noirs et une bouche

et un nez de carotte.

Je m’appelle Frosty.

Je suis un bonhomme de neige.

Je porte un écharpe verte, un chapeau noir

et je suis très content!

Finally, song number 3 is again one of my own.  I took Little Imp to a local Toddler group the week before last and we sang this lovely little song to the tune "I'm a little teapot":

I'm a little snowman

short and fat

Here's my scarf and here's my hat.

When the weather's snowing,

come and play.

Build a snowman everyday!

 

I thought it was a lovely idea and decided to try to come up with a French version for our group.  I'm sure it could be improved upon but here it is:

 

Je suis un bonhomme de neige

petit et gros,

Je porte une écharpe et je porte un chapeau.
Tous les jours quand il neige,
allons-vite,
Faisons un bonhomme de neige
tout de suite!

After our singing and dancing, we made some lovely Christmas trees to take home.  We had the templates of a tree and some decorations on card and after we decorated them and cut them out we could assemble them to make a 3d tree.  Here are the results of our efforts:

 

More Christmas songs and craft ideas next week and in the meantime we hope you have fun singing some not very authentic but catchy and simple French songs! :o)