Le transport week 3 - bus snack craft

For the third week of our transportation theme, I decided on an edible craft.  These always prove popular with the toddlers who love the opportunity not only to get messy but also have a yummy treat to eat as well :0)

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it seemed simple enough for our little ones to have a go at independently.

To make your own bus snack you will need:

A crackerbread (or similar rectangular shaped biscuit/cracker)

Cream cheese

Food colouring (any colour you like)

Mini party ring biscuits (or similar, the example I saw on Pinterest used mini Oreos)

Shreddies (or similar for the windows)

First colour the cream cheese then let your toddler spread this over the cracker bread.

Let them add the shreddie windows and mini party ring wheels

And there you have it, a simple but tasty snack :0)

Here are our fabulous buses:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Le transport week 2 - flying rockets

For the second week of our transport theme, the craft was inspired by a favourite song of our toddlers, le petit train.  However, it is not the train verse that gets them excited but the final verse about "la fusée" (the rocket) which involves the children being lifted high into the air like a rocket blasting off! Great fun, although I must admit as little imp gets bigger it is increasingly hard work to lift her so high!! 

The rockets that we made can be made to fly when you blow into the straw that is inserted into them. The trick we have discovered is to blow out a long steady breath.  Blowing forcefully does not work at all!

To make your own flying rocket craft you will need:

Craft paper in a colour of your choice.

Glue stick

Stickers/collage bits for decoration

A small rectangle of thin card

Sellotape

Orange and yellow tissue paper

A straw

First cut out two identical rocket shapes from your craft paper and glue together.

Then let your toddler decorate to their hearts content.

Make small flame shapes from the yellow and orange tissues paper and glue onto to end of your rocket.

Stick the small card rectangle to the back of your rocket with Sellotape ensuring a complete seal on 3 sides and leaving a space big enough to slip the straw into on the bottom side.

Slide the straw a little way into the card pocket.  Blow slowly and steadily into the straw and (fingers crossed) your rocket will launch into outer space! :0). After a bit of practice even our little ones were able to launch their rockets.

Here they are to inspire you to create your own:

I tried to get an action shot but I wasn't really fast enough, this was the best I could do but hopefully it gives you the idea!

The rocket has disappeared into outer space!! :0)

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Le transport week 1 - les roues du bus

Last Friday was the first session of our new theme "le transport".  Our songs for this topic include "les roues du bus" (the wheels on the bus), "le petit train" (the little train), "Londre flambe" (London's burning), "il tourne en rond", "rame,rame, rame donc" (row row your boat) and "au feu les pompiers".  This last song being the only new song for our repertoire (see previous posts for the lyrics of the others), here are the lyrics to "au feu les pompiers" (to the fire, firefighters)

Au feu, les pompiers,

V'là la maison qui brûle!

Au feu les pompiers,

V'là la maison brûlée!

C'est pas moi qui la brûlée,

C'est la canitinère!

C'est pas moi qui là brûlée,

C'est la cantinier!

And a rough translation:

To the fire firefighters,

The house is burning!

To the fire firefighters,

The house burnt down!

It isn't me that burnt it,

It's the canteen cook,

It isn't me that burnt it,

It's the canteen cook.

La cantinière and le cantinier both mean the canteen cook, the difference being that la cantinière is a female cook and le cantinier is a male cook.  To make it a little more fun for the children you can substitute their names in instead e.g c'est pas moi qui la brûlée, c'est little imp!

For our craft this week, we repeated one from a long time ago that proved very popular at the time.  I printed out the outline of a bus on card for each child and then they used a variety of collage materials to decorate the bus however they wished.  We also had several toddler/preschooler magazines handy - think Cbeebies, disney etc.  and used the characters cut out to stick in the windows of the bus as the passengers.

Here are our fabulous buses:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

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)