French|Sparkles and Sprinkles

Homeschool kick-off week: a joy-filled way to start the school year

by sparkle | Oct 3, 2024 | Craft Tutorials

Looking for a way to make the start of the school year something to look forward to? And bring happy memories for years to come? How about a homeschool kick-off week?

We’ve been doing homeschool kick-off weeks in one way or another since our oldest daughter started kindergarten. That year we went to a pick-your-own flower farm on the first day of school, as we had decided to name our homeschool Little Flowers School after Saint Thérèse. The reality was that a trip to the flower farm was a bit stressful with little ones – see the signs in the photo below: “Do not walk in the flower beds” and “Choose carefully. You are required to pay for ALL flowers you pick.” It was not the idyllic day of carefree frolicking in flower fields I envisioned, but we did come home with some pretty bouquets, and the day at the flower farm is still a happy memory. Homeschool kick-off days have gotten better from there, and in this post we share with you some examples of our homeschool kick-off days.

While our homeschool kick-off weeks are quite different every year, there are three things they tend to have in common:

some surprise gifts
a slow start (doing just one or two subjects a day – more on that below)
fun family together time activities

We usually base the especially fun days on what we plan to study for social studies or science in the coming year… this way our activities relate to everyone, as we tend to do science and social studies as a whole family.

Special Gifts

Our kick-off days start with an idea I borrowed from German teacher at the school where I used to teach. She so kindly wrapped beautiful little gifts to have on each student’s desk on the first day of school. She told me that it is a German tradition for students to be given gifts to start the school year. They are called Schultüte. Her generosity amazed me to do this for so many students! And I’m sure it brought joy to so many students over the years.

Inspired by this, we try to start off our school year with some fun gifts as well. Somehow a beautifully wrapped gift to open brings lots of smiles, even if there might be sadness in summer coming to an end. Rather than just the necessary school supplies, we try to find something special, like pretty pencils with inspirational quotes, or unique pencil cases found at gift shop over the summer. Sometimes we include books and a book journal. For children who are not officially school age, we pick gifts of toys that they might enjoy playing with while the older siblings are doing school work. One year when the big girls needed a real microscope, our little ones received an educational microscope toy.

Here is what our kick off week looked like this year…

We’ll also share with you some of the curricula we are using this year – we are always grateful for learning about curricula other families love, so we hope our favorites might be helpful to you as well. We have a penchant for a Charlotte Mason approach to learning.

Monday: History Day

This year we will be studying ancient history, so a brand new DK Eyewitness book about Ancient Greece was sitting by the breakfast table. These books bring history alive, and are so fun to peruse – no one needs to tell a child to pick this up and learn, it just happens!

We then read from Spend the Day in Ancient Greece, which tells the story of a fictional Ancient Greek family and gives numerous craft ideas. We made the first project in the book: an owl made out of clay to represent Athena’s wisdom.

We also started our read aloud from Famous Men of Greece (suggested in the Mater Amabilis curriculum). The girls did narration and drawings about what they learned in their history notebooks. (History notebooks are so fun, by the way… they give each child a way to express themselves at their own level, whether it be a lengthy written description by a teen or a simple drawing by a preschooler.)

We continued the Greek theme with making Greek salad for lunch and Amygdalota (naturally gluten-free almond flour Greek cookies that symbolizes new beginnings) for dessert.

Tuesday: French and Music Day

We started our day by cuddling up together and reading from a French children’s book.

The girls then opened some fun gifts – a 3D puzzle of Paris and audio flashcards (a screen-free activity that still allows independent language practice). The 3-D puzzle of Paris turned out to be a hit! It was so fun to put together, and actually provided for hours of (gentle) play in the days to come (as there are little people that can be moved around).

We also took the time to do our Hoffman Academy online piano lessons. (I was at first skeptical of the idea of online piano lessons, but we have now been using Hoffman Academy for years – it teaches not only how to play piano, but incorporates music theory as well, in a very well-thought-out and fun way.)

The highlight of our day was going to a beautiful French cafe for lunch and spending some time playing at a local park with friends. On our drive to the cafe, we listened to the Busy Kids Love Music podcast. (I’m trying to incorporate music history into our curriculum this year without adding in any prep work – this podcast is delightful.)

Wednesday: English Day

The gift for the day was a bookmark making kit and a beautiful newly published book, Because Barbara, about the life of author and illustrator, Barbara Cooney. (We have at least one budding author and illustrator in our family, so this book was a good inspiration, and everyone loved it!)

I spent time helping each child with their grammar and spelling books. (This year, we are using Catholic Heritage Curricula for the older girls and The Good and the Beautiful for our Kindergartner.)

The plan was also to make a visit to our local library, but we ended up opting to do this another day as everyone was tired this day. It’s good to flexible and go-with the flow for a joy-filled kick-off week.

Thursday: Math Day

I was able to do a math lesson with each child so that we could get to know the math program. This year, for the first time, our girls are all doing The Good and the Beautiful math – true to its name, it is a visually beautiful program that uses a spiral learning approach.

Our fun activity for math day was really pretty simple… a nature walk where each child gathered nature items of their choice in a little bag, then we came home and thought about how they could relate to math. How many petals are on this flower? Why do flowers have so many seeds? What shapes do you see? How far do you think we walked?…

Friday: Science Day

While we often do our biggest kick-off day on the first day, this year it worked best to do our biggest kick-off day on Friday. My husband takes the day off of work for this day to join us in the fun and add some words of encouragement and special blessing prayers for the start of the school year.

We started the day with pancakes in the shape of bears for breakfast and a gift of pencils with animal erasers… as a little foreshadowing that our special trip would be to the zoo. (Side note: We use our healthy gluten-free cupcake recipe to make the batter for our pancakes. These pancakes are packed with protein for a great start to the day.)

A trip to the zoo was such a fun way to kick-off our study of biology this year. Below are a few of the many photos we took of the animals. To top off the day, we were able to stop in for some prayer time at church on our way home to thank God for the gift of His creation, and ask God to guide our school year too.

With such a long day at the zoo, we actually waited until the following week to start our science book work. We are using The Good and the Beautiful biology program this year, starting off with mammals. So far I am totally impressed, and the children love the program. I really love how the program has one main teacher guide, and separate (scaffolded) nature journals for each age group. They seem to be spot on for the level of work that seems appropriate for their ages.

A Slow Start…

You may notice that we only do one or two subjects per day during our kick-off week. I call this a “slow start,” and there are so many reasons I love it:

Doing only one subject a day to start gives me time to work one-on-one with each child on each subject, without feeling rushed.
As I see how the child connects with the curriculum for each subject, I can better think about how much time each subject might take, and how to weave together a schedule for the year (rather than just guessing at it). Planning a schedule for the year can be overwhelming, nonetheless, so I always try to remember to take it to prayer… with God all things are possible!
If there are projects still left undone from the summer (fun things like making photo albums, or not so fun like cleaning out closets), part of the day can be spent wrapping up those things.
Doing just one or two subjects a day at the start of the school year provides a more peaceful transition from the freedom of summer to the demands of the school year… both for me as the teacher and for my children.

A few more fun ideas:

Truly, every year is different, so in case it sparks more ideas for you, here are some of our favorite memories from years past:

Getting toy boats and sailing them across the neighborhood swimming pool the year we were studying early American history, pretending one end of the pool was Europe and the other end America. (Another benefit of homeschooling… being at the pool while everyone else is at school!)

Using couch cushions to make a pretend time machine, then getting in and pretending to blast off to different time periods to get a preview of what we would be learning about in a world history year. Daddy even had the thought to play some time machine sound effects and make a control panel from a cardboard box! Each time we made a stop, there was an activity related to the time period in a different room of the house (an art project, a book to read, music to listen to…).

Spending the day seeing monuments in D.C. to kick off the year that civics was our social studies focus, then coming home and trying to make the monuments out of cake and frosting… Is it Cake? style. It was quite a mess on the counter (with frosting, cake, cookies, pretzels, and more… and yes, I had to temporarily give up my “stay away from refined sugar” norm that you see in our blog recipes.) Our girls are still asking if we can please do Is it Cake? again!?

Of course coming up with your own ideas to suit your own family and curriculum for the year is best (and most fun), but we hope these ideas might spark some ideas for you, and add joy to your school year.

May God bless you and your family as you learn and grow together!

P.S. If you are reading this in the middle of the school, you could tuck away the idea for next school year, or maybe do a week like this in the middle of the school year to add a little variety. Kind of like doing a “Just because we can day” (have heard about this great idea from Sarah Mackenzie?) but instead a “Just because we can week!”

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Make your own Santons de Provence

by sparkle | Dec 1, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

Come learn about Santons de Provence, a beautiful French Christmas tradition. Then make your own French-inspired nativity scene with a little clay, paint, and creativity!

The idea of a nativity scene began with Saint Francis in Italy in the 1200s. He brought together real people and animals to create a living nativity. Churches over the years have displayed large nativity scenes.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_Saint_Francis_of_Assisi_Franciscan_monastery_in_Katowice_Panewniki_furta_04.jpg

Painting of Saint Francis found on wikimedia.

When there was a revolution in France in the 1700s, it was sometimes not possible for people to go to church. The French people started making small nativity scenes for their homes.

In the 1800s, Santons de Provence began to become famous in the south of France. Santons (meaning “little saints”) are commonly made of clay and painted by hand.

Lavender field in Provence found on wikimedia.

France with Provence in red found on wikimedia.

Provence landscape image found on wikimedia.

Santons de Provence nativity scenes include not only the Holy Family, but also many other people (such as a baker, a teacher, a doctor, a mom and her child, and countless other people).

Santons de Provence remind us that we are all called to come adore the Christ Child in the manger.

Our family’s Santons de Provence collection began with baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and a donkey, and over the years it has grown. Each year we add a new figure or two. Sometimes the added figure relates to our life that year, for example a mother and a child when a new baby was born in our family, and an apothecary during the COVID pandemic. Our scene also includes Saint Francis, as he is a dear saint to our family and to remember that he began the idea of nativity scenes.

Having a Santons de Provence collection is a beautiful Christmas tradition. Our family looks forward to setting out the scene each Advent, and the first thing we do on Christmas morning is to come to see that baby Jesus has been placed in the stable.

If you are interested in starting your own collection, and planning a trip to France is not a possibility, there are a number of online stores that sell Santons de Provence. We have ordered Santons from Santons de France USA for many years.

If you would like to create your own Santons de Provence-inspired nativity scene, keep reading to learn about a few ways to create your own nativity scene.

Ready to create your own Santons?

Santons de Provence are typically made from clay, so for authentic but simple material for making your own santons, we recommend terra cotta color air dry clay. Once it dries, the clay can be painted with acrylic paint. You may want to use clay tools for more detailed work.

Despite air dry clay being a more authentic material, we have found that using Model Magic makes for a project that avoids mess and also creates sturdy figures (ready for little hands to play with!). Here is a link for a class pack of Model Magic (in our family, we love having this on hand for many fun projects), but small packages are also available.

Toothpicks may be helpful to support the clay as it dries and to add details or texture.

Model Magic can be painted after it dries with watercolor paint. Any watercolor paint will work, but higher quality water color may work best. If the figures are small, fine-tipped paint brushes will be helpful for details.

Part of the fun of making your own Santons de Provence inspired nativity is that figures can be created that are special to you and your life. For example, our 11-year old loves bunnies, baking, and playing the guitar, so she created some new santons to add to her collection this year inspired by these loves. Making a patron saint figure would also be lovely. Of course making your own santons does not mean they need to look exactly like Santons de Provence, you can create your own style, as our daughter did.

Before making your own Santons de Provence inspired nativity, you might enjoy watching some authentic Santons de Provence creators at work in France. We’ve gathered up a collection of videos below that show the creators at work. The videos are in French, so if you are new to French, just watch (and perhaps you’ll recognize a French words too!). You’ll be able to see the great variety of santons that are made. You’ll also see that santons are made using a molds in order to mass produce many of the same type of santon. However, the molds are produced from originally sculpting a santon out of clay, so for making your own santons, you will not need a mold… just create your own originals by sculpting your clay.

We hope you enjoy making your own Santons de Provence-inspired nativity scenes, or perhaps start an authentic Santons de Provence nativity collection to add even more joy to the Christmas season!

Joyeux Noël !

Que Dieu vous

bénisse!

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Make a city plan like L’Enfant

by sparkle | Oct 3, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

Have you ever thought about the fact that someone had to design and plan the cities where we live? In this post, we share with you a little history of the designer of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. His name? Pierre Charles L’Enfant.

pierre l'enfant statue in u.s. capitol building

We wish we could have found a great picture book for children to learn about L’Enfant (like the one we found about Jean-Jacques Audubon), but as we could not find one, this post is full of pictures and little snippets that tell the story of the intriguing life of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a Frenchman with a great love of America.

After learning a little about L’Enfant, we’ll show you a fun art project to plan your own imaginary city, using L’Enfant’s methods. You can even learn some French city words, with our free chart, as a nod to L’Enfant’s native language.

And, if you are up for an adventure, we suggest some places in the D.C. area you can visit which honor the designer of our nation’s capital – scroll to the bottom of this post to find these fun places.

A few little notes… This post was inspired by reading Grand Avenues by Scott W. Berg – it’s a history book, but it is written like an enthralling novel. I would recommend it to adults reading this post, especially those with a penchant for French and a love for Washington D.C. For children, or those wanting a quick snapshot, our post should be a nice place to start. Pictures in this post are mostly public domain images. In many cases, clicking on the images will lead to the source of the photos if you want to dive deeper. Okay, let’s learn about L’Enfant…

Who was Pierre Charles L’Enfant?

Major Peter Charles L’Enfant, redrawn from woodcut (Library of Congress)

Pierre L’Enfant was born in France in 1754. His father was employed by King Louis XV as a royal artist. Pierre L’Enfant studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. One of his contemporaries was Jacques-Louis David, who became a famous artist.

academie royale de peinture et sculpture

Vue perspective du Sallon de l’Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture au Louvre (1778)

Painting by L’Enfant of West Point, 1782 (Museum of the American Revolution)

Pierre L’Enfant’s family was close with the famous playwright Beaumarchais (author of plays such as The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro). Beaumarchais encouraged a group of young men at the time to travel to America to help to fight against the English in the American Revolution. L’Enfant did not have military training, but he wanted to come to America to join in the fight for American independence.

Soon after his arrival in America, L’Enfant met George Washington. George Washington was impressed with L’Enfant, especially with his artistic abilities. L’Enfant was asked to draw a military manual for General Baron von Steuben. L’Enfant was also asked to create the medallions for the Society of the Cincinnati. Later, L’Enfant took on a bigger project, redesigning Federal Hall in New York City.

L’Enfant’s drawing for Steuben’s military manual (Muesuem of the American Revolution)

When the Revolutionary War had been won and it was decided that the new country should also have a new capital city, L’Enfant was determined to be the designer of this great city. George Washington thought that L’Enfant was the one who had the genius for this job.

“Since my first knowledge of [L’Enfant’s] abilities in the line of his profession, I have received him not only as a scientific man, but one who added considerable taste to his professional knowledge; and that, for such employment as he is now engaged in, for projecting public works, and carrying them into effect, he was better qualified than any one who had come within my knowledge in this country, or indeed in any other…”

(Letter from George Washington to David Stuart, as quoted in Grand Avenues, pages 136-137)

L’Enfant explored and surveyed the land that would become Washington, District of Columbia. Then L’Enfant meticulously designed a grand city to be built there. At the time, Georgetown was a little village and most of the area that would become Washington D.C. was farmland and forest.

Unknown author – Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

From his tireless study of the land, his vast imagination, and artistic talent, L’Enfant created a plan for the new capital city. He created his plan on 2 pieces of handmade paper (joined together to be 2 feet by 3 feet), using pencil and watercolor for the images, and many styles of calligraphy for the descriptions.

L’Enfants hand drawn plan for Washington, D.C. (public domain image)

L’Enfant had a fiery personality, however, and sometimes offended the other people working in government at the time. Interestingly, the plan that became engraved and publicized had the name of one of L’Enfant’s helpers, Ellicott, who had copied and slightly modified L’Enfant’s plan. L’Enfant was enraged that after all of his hard work, his name was not the one on the published plan. Due to disagreements and financial difficulties, the plan for D.C. was slow to become a reality.

About 100 years went by without much progress on the grand plans for Washington, D.C., then L’Enfant’s original plans were unearthed by Frederick Olmsted, Jr., a highly acclaimed architect. The McMillan Commission then attempted to more fully understand L’Enfant’s plans. The commissioners even traveled to Paris to see where L’Enfant grew up and what might have inspired his plans.

Finally, L’Enfant’s plans for a grand city for our nation’s capital began to be realized.

The McMillan Plan for the National Mall

Perhaps it is because of L’Enfant’s original plans and the McMillan Commission’s work in carrying out his plans that Paris and Washington D.C. have some similarities, among them, grand diagonal avenues, long grassy esplanades, French Second Empire and Beaux-Arts style buildings, and ornate bridges. Let’s take a look…

Map of Paris in 1774

L'Enfant's plan for Washington, D.C.

Paris - Champ de Mars

D.C. - The National Mall

Paris - Opéra Garnier

D.C. - Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Paris - Pont Alexandre III

D.C. - Arlington Memorial Bridge

Photo by Tim Evanson from Washington, D.C., United States of America

Ready to plan your own city?

L’Enfant used large pieces of handmade paper for his plan. For your plan, you will need large pieces of watercolor paper, watercolors, paint brushes, and pencils and/or pens.

L’Enfant spent a great deal of time exploring the land on which he planned our nation’s capital, deciding, for example, what buildings would look best on hills and what areas should be near water. To add even more fun to your imaginary city plan, it could be fun to spend time wandering in a country or farm area, and imagine how that piece of land could be turned into a city or town.

Once you have some ideas, start to sketch them out on your paper with pencil. Label your map in pen or pencil and add some watercolor (perhaps blue for rivers, green for parks, etc.). You could also add explanations about your map, using pen or pencil, or even try calligraphy as L’Enfant did. Decide on a name for your city, and give your map a fancy title.

If you are interested in learning French while making the city, feel free to print a copy of our French City Word Chart. Though L’Enfant made his map with English labels, it could be fun to label your map in French, L’Enfant’s native language.

If you need help with pronunciation of these city words, you could try Narakeet. Simply select French as the language, type the French word, and listen to the pronunciation.

Ready for a L’Enfant in D.C. fieldtrip?

L’Enfant was at first not honored for his great work in designing our nations capital, but now we can find a number of places around Washington, D.C. that remind us of L’Enfant’s contribution to our country. Let’s explore…

L'Enfant Plaza with metro and train stops

Photo by Tim 1965

Statue of L'Enfant in the United States Capitol Building

The statue of L’Enfant in the Capitol is quite new, installed in 2022. Watch a video of the instatlation. The statue is tucked in a quiet alcove… a big thank you to our wonderful tour guide who took the time to show us this statue, though it was not part of the standard Capitol tour.

L'Enfant's tomb in Arlington National Cemetery

L’Enfant’s remains were transferred to Arlington National Cemetery about a century after his death. His tomb overlooks the capital city he designed.

Freedom Plaza in D.C.

At Freedom plaza one can walk on a stone inlay that depicts a portion of L’Enfant’s plan for Washington, D.C. (photo from wikimedia)

Is it possible to see the original plan created by L’Enfant? Unfortunately not. We read in Grand Avenues that “The only known copy of a plan for the federal city in L’Enfant’s own hand to survive into the twenty-first century rests in a refrigerated chamber in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, where it is off limits to the public because of its brittle condition and the extreme fading of its pencil lines” (Grand Avenues, pages 185-186).

In addition to the places which specifically honor L’Enfant, you could walk in L’Enfant’s footsteps by visiting Mount Vernon (where L’Enfant met with George Washington to talk about his city plans) and Georgetown (where L’Enfant stayed while exploring the land that would become Washington, D.C.).

If you are interested in seeing the artwork of L’Enfant’s contemporaries, who were also gifted artists, consider a visit to the National Gallery of Art, looking for the works of Jacques-Louis David and John Trumbull.

We hope you have enjoyed learning about Pierre Charles L’Enfant, and creating and exploring on your own!

If you love learning and creating, consider subscribing to our email updates. Simply click here to subscribe. At sparklesandsprinkles.blog, we post learning ideas and recipes, and have a penchant for all things French.

Bonne journée! Have a great day!

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Audubon inspired French nature activities

by sparkle | Apr 23, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

Audubon is a familiar name, especially for those who love birds. But did you know that Jean-Jacques Audubon was sent to America as a young man to avoid having to fight in Napoleon’s war? Here in America he spent as much time as possible outside, observing and recording nature.

We love the book about the young Audubon, The Boy Who Drew Birds, by Jacqueline Davies, with illustrations by Melissa Sweet. This book is in English, but provides a great jumping off point for a nature hunt in French.

In this post, we have a Free French/English nature scavenger hunt printable to get outside and learn French. If the day is more of inside day for you, we also have some indoor ideas, like our nature matching game available on Etsy.

New to French? No worries, we have clickable links to hear the nature hunt and matching game words!

Click on the image to hear the French word.

un oiseau

un arbre

une fleur

un nid

un oeuf

une grenouille

une plume

une bûche

un papillon

la mousse

l'eau

l'herbe

une brindille

le soleil

le ciel

un nuage

une grotte

un ruisseau

un pont

une colline

Ready to head outside? Print your FREE French scavenger hunt!

Click on the image to get your Free printable French scavenger hunt. Children can check off the items they find and draw a small picture of each item. Words are listed in French and English.

Want to play? Learn French with our Nature Matching Game!

Click here to get your own French – English Nature Matching game. It’s an instant digital download, so you can play it today! Just print, cut out, and play. Have fun!

Get the French – English Matching Game on Etsy.

Love to draw? Create your own nature scene with French labels.

Children can draw a picture of a real nature scene or one that they imagine. Then have older children use a dictionary to find the French vocabulary to label the scene in French. (An online dictionary could also be used.) Younger children can be told the words while an adult writes the words.

We love learning French through picture books. If you do too, check out our Paris Picture Book post.

We also loving learning through singing! If you do too, check out 123 Petits Pas… they have adorable songs in French… some about nature.

Bonne journée!

Have a beautiful day!

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Paris Picture Books – a Fun way to learn French

by sparkle | Mar 21, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

We love learning through picture books! Both young children and older children can benefit from reading picture books. In this post we have fun crafts and learning activities for you to learn French while enjoying children’s picture books set in Paris: The Red Balloon, Madeline, and Kiki and Coco in Paris. There are activities suitable for a variety of age levels and language learning levels.

To get all of the FREE French learning printables in this post, click here.

The Red Balloon

We’ve been reading The Red Balloon lately, and our 4-year-old just asked today if we could meet “that little boy in Paris who goes to school” with his balloon. So cute! We had to explain that the story is quite old, and the boy is probably the age of a grandpa right now.

There is definitely something endearing about this story!

I had to explain to my children that Paris looks quite different today. These photos were taken not too long after World War II when Paris had been through quite a difficult time. For a book with modern images of Paris, try Kiki and Coco (at the end of this post).

The Red Balloon Craft – Make a Flying with Balloons Picture

Reading The Red Balloon provides a great opportunity to talk with children about the fact that what they see in a photograph (or in a video) might not actually be real. This art project allows children to make a photo that makes it seem like they are floating over Paris with a bunch of balloons. Simply follow the directions in the FREE printable to make your own picture. The printable has a photo of the Paris sky and balloons. You may take a photo of your child on tippy toes, pretending to hold balloons, or use one of the provided images,

The Red Balloon French Activity – Find French in the Photos

Looking closely at the photos in The Red Balloon, you can find so many French words. Download our FREE printable to learn the meanings of the words and find the words in the story photos. Then try to match the words to the provided images in our word matching activity. Have fun!

Madeline

This classic book full of rhymes, beautiful illustrations, and sweet lessons might just be one to add to your home library. We kept checking out a copy from the library over the years, and finally decided one should be on our bookshelf too.

Madeline also subtly teaches about Paris through its memorable illustrations.

Madeline Craft – Make a House and Dolls

We made this house several years ago, but our daughters still talk about how much fun they had making it and playing with it. We made the house out of a large printer paper box, used hot glue to attach the roof and chimneys, then painted it with acrylic paint. While some of the details of the house might be best done by an adult or an older child, we found that painting the vines was especially fun for younger children (and though not pictured here, we let our youngest paint the sides of the house however she wanted to while we worked on the details of the front).

We used small wooden peg dolls to make Madeline and her friends (only 2 of the 12 pictured here). We painted them with yellow acrylic paint and cut felt circles to make their hats. For tall Miss Clavel, we used a wooden round clothes pin, and painted it blue.

Madeline French Activity – Paris Landmarks

Download our FREE printable Paris map activity to learn where the many landmarks pictured in Madeline actually are on a map.

You may also like to try this speaking and writing activity connected with the Madeline story. Learn and practice questions like, “How are you?” “Where do you live?” and “What do you love?” If you are brand new to French, consider entering the French text on the worksheet into Narakeet (this turns text into audio, just select French as the language). Need to look up the French words for things you love? Try this online dictionary: ReversoDictionary.

Kiki and Coco in Paris

Kiki and Coco in Paris could be called a modern day Red Balloon story. Wonderful photographs of Paris the tell the story of a girl and her doll, rather than a boy and his balloon. It’s adorable, and book to be read many times over, imagining Kiki’s fun trip to Paris with her doll, Coco.

Kiki and Coco in Paris Craft – Make a Doll

Making a doll can be so fun and rewarding for children. Our homeschool elementary sewing group made felt dolls a number of years ago. Each doll turned out adorable and unique! We found the pattern for these at CasaMagubako on Etsy, and each girl modified the style to make her own unique doll.

For older girls, making a Waldorf-style natural fiber doll can be fun. These dolls last for years! I made many of them as a teen, and my children still play with them today.

For young children, just giving them some fabric scraps, stuffing and a needle and thread can be a great opportunity to create their own special doll. I still remember one of the dolls I made, probably around the age of 5… loosely stitched together with pick fabric, a face drawn it, and some lace to decorate it.

If you would like to make a doll just like the one in the story, Jess Brown has her own book: The Making of a Rag Doll.

Kiki and Coco in Paris French Activities

Instantly download these FREE printables to learn some French while enjoying the story of Kiki and Coco. We recommend just enjoying the story a few times first, then trying the activities. The first activity lists the French translations of some of the items seen in the pictures of the story (for example, a doll, a slide, and a dog). The idea is to say the words in French when you see them in the book. The second activity gives spaces for the child to draw pictures of some of these French words (or second-grader loved this!). The third activity is a word search to help solidify the vocabulary knowledge (this one is a challenge – suited for upper elementary and older).

Amusez-vous bien! Have fun!

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Homeschool kick-off week: a joy-filled way to start the school year

Make your own Santons de Provence

Make a city plan like L’Enfant

Map of Paris in 1774

L'Enfant's plan for Washington, D.C.

Paris - Champ de Mars

D.C. - The National Mall

Paris - Opéra Garnier

D.C. - Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Paris - Pont Alexandre III

D.C. - Arlington Memorial Bridge

L'Enfant Plaza with metro and train stops

Statue of L'Enfant in the United States Capitol Building

L'Enfant's tomb in Arlington National Cemetery

Freedom Plaza in D.C.

Audubon inspired French nature activities

un oiseau

un arbre

une fleur

un nid

un oeuf

une grenouille

une plume

une bûche

un papillon

la mousse

l'eau

l'herbe

une brindille

le soleil

le ciel

un nuage

une grotte

un ruisseau

un pont

une colline

Paris Picture Books – a Fun way to learn French

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