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)

Sous la mer week 5 - lacing fish

For the fifth week of our "sous la mer" theme we made some rainbow fish and practiced our lacing skills by adding some wool decorations too.

Here are our colourful creations:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Sous la mer week 4 - shark fin cupcakes

For the fourth week of our "sous la mer" theme, I decided on an edible craft - I'd be hard pushed to say which crafts are most popular with our toddlers but I think fair to say it would be a close run thing between edible crafts and painting crafts! :0)

So, this week's creation is shark fin cupcakes.  These are very simple to create but look really effective - ours are looking a little melty in the photos as the weather has been unseasonably hot in the UK the last week.

To make your own shark fun cupcakes you will need:

Cupcakes (either bake your own or plain store bought ones)

Frosting (again homemade or store bought is fine)

Blue food colouring

Sugarpaste in a colour of your choice for the fins

First stir some blue food colouring through the frosting, you don't want to colour it completely blue as the "sea" looks good with a bit of white foam too

Then roll out your sugarpaste and cut out a shark fin shape

Spread frosting on your cupcake roughly to look like waves and stand the sugarpaste fin in the frosting.

Here are our little ones super yummy cakes:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Sous la mer week 3 - paper plate turtles

For our third week "sous la mer" I chose another paper plate craft.  I have to admit that I love paper plates, there are so many things you can turn them into and they are so inexpensive.  Over the last two and a bit years we have created fish, turtles, pea pods, sun mobiles, rocking birds, Easter bunny masks, snails, spiders webs and funny faces to name just a few :0) anyway, this week I decided that we would stick with the paper plates and make some turtles since these feature in one of our songs for the topic.

To make your own turtle, you will need:

A paper plate,

Craft foam,

A variety of collage materials - for example, tissue paper, felt, cupcake cases, ribbon, doilies, foam, shiny paper, etc.

Googly eyes 

Glue

First of all cut out a head, legs vas tusk from the craft foam.

Turn the paper plate upside down so that the shell will be raised up a bit.

Glue the foam parts to the underside of the plate shell.

Cut up small pieces of your chosen collage materials and let your toddler design the shell by gluing them on.

Add googly eyes to the head and voilà one turtle or tortue complete :0)

Here are our fabulous turtles for you:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Sous la mer week 2 - paper plate fish

For our second week of our "sous la mer" theme, I decided to bring back a craft that we did in the pre blog days, paper plate fish.  But this time to make it link to our song "les petits poissons" each of our toddlers made two fish a big (gros) and a small (petit).

To make your own you will need:

Paper plate

Scissors

Pva glue

A variety of collage materials

A googly eye 

First, cut a triangle shape out of you paper plate - this will form the mouth of the fish and the section you have cut out can be glued on the other side to make the tail.

Then let your toddler go wild with the collage materials to create scales for the fish.  Glue these on to the plate.

Add a googly eye and your fish is complete! 

A very simple craft suitable for even the youngest toddlers to get involved in :0)

Here are our lovely poisson to give you some inspiration:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)

Sous la mer week 1 - jellyfish painting

Friday saw the start of our latest theme "sous la mer" (under the sea).  Our songs for this include: la baleine, la mer  - not sure where I came across this one at some point over the years teaching though it has become part of my repertoire.  It is sung to the tune of "sur le pont d'Avignon" but covers sea creatures and their actions.  I will try to find a name at least and then I can acknowledge it properly next week! - les petits poissons, tourne tourne petit moulin (there is a fish in it!), rame rame donc (row your boat) and il tourne en rond notre beau bateau. You can find the lyrics to most of these on previous posts.  And here are the words for la baleine and il tourne en rond:

C'est la baleine qui va, qui vire

Qui fait le tour des navires

Oh la baleine, la baleine

Oh la baleine, la baleine

Me croque un doigt

CROC!

Aie, Aie, Aie, Aie, Aie!

X5 - one verse for each finger eaten!

Il tourne en rond notre beau bateau,

Il tourne en rond trois fois,

Il tourne en rond notre beau bateau,

Il tombe au fonde de l'eau

We do this a bit like ring o' roses, holding hands in a circle and then falling to the ground on the last line.

For our craft this week we had the paints out again and as it was the school holidays here still I decided we might as well get really messy :0)

We made jellyfish (la méduse) pictures.  To make your own you will need:

A large piece of paper,

Bubble wrap,

Blue and green paint and any other colours you choose

Googly eye stickers or googly eyes

A balloon (partially inflated)

First, cover the piece of bubble wrap with blue and green paint.

Then press your paper onto the bubble wrap to print the sea pattern background like this 

You then paint your toddlers hand in their chosen colour and print a handprint (or as many as you want jellyfish) onto the paper.

Dip the balloon into the paint and use it to print the body of the jelly fish over the hand print and add googly eyes

Here are our fabulous jellyfish paintings to give you some inspiration:

Happy singing and crafting! :0)