Je sais compter - week 4 - 5 ouistitis/5 naughty monkeys

For the fourth week of our counting theme, our craft focused on the action rhyme "5 ouistitis" or as we know it in English "5 naughty monkeys".  Ouistiti doesn't translate as naughty monkey, rather a ouistiti is a marmoset monkey - I have to admit though from having observed them closely at the zoo with Little Imp this summer they do have a rather cheeky air about them and seem to be the perfect choice for this rhyme!! :0)

If you would like the lyrics to this rhyme, please see my earlier blog post on it :0)

For our craft we made some naughty monkeys and a bed for them to jump on. To make your own, you will need:

A paper plate (or a piece of card)

Craft foam

Felt/fabric scraps, ribbon etc

Craft lollipop sticks 

Glitter (what toddler craft doesn't need glitter!)

Glue

Scissors

Felt pens

And maybe some little monkey templates - I printed some off on card so that there was a choice to draw freehand or use a template to draw around or simply to decorate the printed monkeys.

First you need to cut out the bed shape from the paper plate or piece of card.

Add a pillow and quilt from fabrics or your choice.  You then need to cut 5 small slots along the middle of the bed, big enough for the lolly sticks to go through.

Create your monkeys out of foam or card and decorate as you wish.  Glue the monkeys onto lollipop sticks.

Slide the sticks into the slits you cut in the bed and now by sliding the lolly sticks up and down you can make your monkeys jump up and down on the bed, and even fall out if you wish to act out the rhyme :0)

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

5 ouistitis...

I love the action rhyme 5 naughty monkeys and thought it would be a great one for our toddlers, but there didn't seem to be a French version out there and try as I might I was really struggling to fit the words to the tune myself.  I was on the verge of abandonment to be honest with you when I stumbled across "10 ouistitis" on Pinterest.  I quickly shortened it to 5 ouistitis as otherwise we would hardly have fitted any other songs in last week and set about thinking up a craft to go with it.

You can find the original 10 ouistitis song here:
http://www.charivarialecole.fr/comptine-des-10-ouistitis-a29491308

The lyrics to our first verse then were:

5 ouistitis qui sautent sur le lit,
l'un tombe et s'évanouit
Maman téléphone au docteur qui dit:
"Stop! Ça suffit de sauter sur le lit!"

A "ouistiti" is a marmoset and by using this word rather than "singe" (monkey) the tune works better - an inspired idea, and one which I wish I had thought of!

I took the inspiration for our craft this week from one we did way back in the early part of 2012 before I had started to blog about the group.  We sang the song "5 dans le lit" and made little lollipop stick people in an envelope bed.  Using this as a starting point I decided that we would make some monkeys that could both jump on the bed and fall off it.

To make your own you will need:
stiff card for the bed
felt/fabric to make the covers
foam/card to make the monkeys
lollipop sticks
scissors
glue

First draw a bed on the stiff card and cut out.  Cut out some of your fabric or felt to make covers and glue this onto the bed.  Set aside to dry.

Draw 5 monkeys on the foam or card - you can draw them freehand or find a free clipart picture to use as a template.  Cut them out and glue one onto each lollipop stick.

Make 5 slits in the bed big enough for the lollipop sticks to slide into.

Put the lollipop stick monkeys into the slits in the bed.  By moving the lollipop sticks up and down you can make the monkeys jump and if they jump too high, they will come out and fall off the bed :o)

Here are our fantastic jumping monkeys to give you some inspiration:

Happy singing and crafting! :o)