le corps - week 2 - x-rays

Well, I'm just about keeping to my resolution to update the blog weekly again! :0)

Last Friday our body themed craft was a repeat of one we did a couple of years ago for this topic - making x-rays.

We drew around our toddlers' hands and arms and then cut up cotton buds and glued them to the hand and arm to look like the bones on an x-ray. Of course some of us added glitter as well - every princess has sparkly bones you know!!

The craft gave us the opportunity to reinforce some vocabulary and we labelled the body parts on the pictures too. Little Imp amazed me by independently labelling her own x-ray - she has been sounding out and writing words in English a lot over the last few months but this was the first time she had attempted it in French, a very proud Mummy moment!! :0)

If you want to try this activity yourself the vocabulary you will need is:

le bras = the arm

la main = the hand

le doigt = the finger

la pouce = the thumb

Here are our fabulous x-rays!

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Le corps week 1 - glove puppets

Last Friday we started our new topic "le corps" (the body).  Our songs for this topic are: tête, épaules, genoux, pieds (head, shoulders, knees and toes), alouette, nounours nounours (teddy bear teddy bear), le doigt la pouce ça bouge (1 finger, 1 thumb keep moving) and mains en l'air.

With the exception of mains en l'air all the others have featured on previous blog posts so if you are unsure of the lyrics then please search for the relevant post/s.

The lyrics and actions for mains en l'air are as follows:

Mains en l'air (put your hands up in the air)

Sur la tête  (put your hands on your head)

Aux épaules (put your hands on your shoulders)

Et en avant (stretch your arms out in front of you)

Bra croisés (cross your arms)

Sur la côté (put hands on your hips)

Moulinets (windmill your arms in front of you)

Et on se tait (put finger on lips)

We had lots of fun singing our new song selection especially as these are all action songs/rhymes :0)

For our first craft on this topic we made glove puppets.

I bought pre made felt glove puppets from a local craft store and the children had free choice from a variety of craft materials to make people.  We used pom-poms, ribbon, wool, felt, buttons, tissue paper, crepe paper, foam, pipe cleaners, etc. I think they did a great job and I love their creations!

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Catch up post 1 - l'halloween

I cannot believe where the last 2 months have gone to, all of a sudden we are in a New Year and I find I haven't updated the blog since November!!  So, my New Year's resolution is to endeavour to get back to weekly updates on what we have been getting up to at Toddler French.

However, first I need to get us up to date as quickly as possible and so I will start with a catch up post on our halloween activities and will then do a second catch up post on our Christmas activities.

Based on the nursery rhyme "l'araignée gipsy" (Incy wincey spider) we made our own spider which climbs up the spout.

The lyrics for the French version of the rhyme are as follows:

L'araignée gipsy monte à la gouttiere
Tiens! voilà la pluie
Gipsy tombe par terre
Mais le soleil a chassé la pluie

L'araignée  gipsy monte a la gouttière.

Our other halloween craft was a collage picture using die cuts which I had purchased.  The shapes the children had available included:

la sorcière (witch)

la citrouille (pumpkin/jack o lantern)

la chauve-souris (bat)

le chat noir (black cat)

L'araignée  (spider)

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Catch up post 2 - Noël

Here is the second of my catch up posts featuring our activities on the topic of Noël (Christmas).  Unfortunately due to illness we only managed 2 Christmas themed sessions.

The songs we sang for this topic included Quand le père Noël, Je suis un bonhomme de neige, Frosty le bonhomme de neige, Nous chantons joyeux Noël, Papa Noël où es-tu? and dix petites rennes.

Our first craft activity was to make a père Noël advent calendar.  We decorated Santa's face and hat using the collage materials from the craft boxes and plenty of glitter glue, the idea then being that the children could add a cotton wool ball to Santa's beard every day and by Christmas Eve he would have a full beard.

Our second Christmas craft activity was making our own cartes de Noël (Christmas cards).  The children designed their own cards and we added the message joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas).

Happy singing and crafting! :O)