Enroulez le fil...

Little Imp is crazy about the song "Wind the bobbin" and has been for a little while, so I was thrilled when I happened across a French version of the song and quickly put my mind to coming up with a bobbin related craft.  After a few weeks of cotton reel collecting, we were ready to go ahead and introduce the song to the toddler group the other Friday.

In case any of you are unfamiliar with the song in English, here are the lyrics:

Wind the bobbin up,
Wind the bobbin up,
pull, pull,
clap, clap, clap.

Wind it back again,
Wind it back again,
pull, pull,
clap, clap, clap.

Point to the ceiling,
Point to the floor,
Point to the window,
Point to the door.
Put your hands together,
one, two, three,
Put your hands upon your knees.

The French version is not a direct translation but rather a similar themed song.  The lyrics, and translation, are as follows:

Enroulez le fil                             (Wind the bobbin)
Deroulez le fil                             (Unwind the bobbin)
Et tire, et tire                               (and pull, and pull)
Et tape, tape, tape.                     (and clap, clap, clap)

La la la la la la la la,
La la la la la la la.
La la la la la la la la,
La la la la la la la.

Enroulez le fil                             (Wind the bobbin)
Deroulez le fil                             (Unwind the bobbin)
Et tire, et tire                               (and pull, and pull)
Et tape, tape, tape.                     (and clap, clap, clap)

The children enjoyed winding the bobbin up and back and especially getting faster and faster through the "la la la" section.

Our accompanying craft was cotton reel printing, although I did get out the other stamps as well for a bit of variety.

The children had access to cotton reels and stamps and a lot of paint and came up with their own original and colourful print paintings - some also rolled the cotton reels through the paint and over the paper for a change.

Here are their fantastic paintings:

Happy singing and crafting! :o)