I spy in French using binoculars

This is a cute and silly way to change I spy a bit. First, you take 2 empty toliet paper rolls and wrap them in black construction paper. Then you can tape the 2 together to make binoculars. You can even put strings on the back if you want.

Then, you and your children can take turns using the binoculars to play I spy in French. "I spy with my little eye quelque chose bleu." (something blue) You can do more or less in French whatever your child is comfortable with.

Puzzle time to learn body parts in French

Here's a lesson where you can teach your kids (or reinforce) the body parts in French. What you do is double click on this picture and print it out. Then cut it to be a puzzle. Cut it where you have an arm, a foot, eyes, whatever you want to teach your children. Then, you can ask your child to put the pieces together. As they pick up a piece they can say the name in French and put the puzzle together. You can do this with any picture you find on the internet. Or even a picture of your child.

Here's a list of body parts in French:

head -la tête
face - le visage
neck - le cou
eye - l'œil
eyes - les yeux
nose - le nez
ear - l'oreille
mouth - la bouche
hair - les cheveux
arm - le bras
hand - la main
fingers - les doigts
finger - le doigt
back - le dos
leg - la jambe
foot - le pied

Animal Bingo in French

My kids have been begging me to play more Bingo games. I searched high and low to find a good one I can put here. If you click on the picture, it will take you to a site where you can print that one and others as well. They have multiple bingo boards, so it will be authentic Bingo you can play with your kids.

Print out an extra copy to cut out or write the name of each picture on a paper, so you can draw them out of a hat. Simply say the name in French and then your children can use markers to cover the correct picture. Below is a helpful list of animal names in French.

Vocabulary list

le mouton - the sheep
le gorille - the gorilla
le chien - the dog
le poulet - the chicken
le chat - the cat
l'autruche - the ostrich
la girafe - the giraffe
la fourmi - the ant
la mouche - the fly
le cochon - the pig
le lion - the lion
le papillon de nuit - the moth
le poisson - the fish
la cocinelle - the lady bug
la grenouille - the frog
le papillon - the butterfly
le scorpion - the scorpion

Horses in French

My daughter loves horses and she asked me to learn some horse words in French and wanted to play some kind of horse game too.



Vocabulary:

le cheval - the horse

les chevaux - the horses

J'ai - I have

Tu as - You have



Activity:

What we did was simply gather all of her toy horses together (mostly My Little Ponies) and we grouped them and talked about how many she had and how many I had. We also spoke about them running and jumping. She also spoke about how she loved them in French. So, you can make this activity to the level of your children.

Here's a small clip of her speaking French.

St. Valentine's Day words in French

The stores had Valentine Candy out the day after Christmas and I'm a bit early too to post Valentine's Day words in French. But, I like to prepare a bit for the upcoming weeks and reinforce vocabulary.

Vocabulary words:
the heart - le cœur
St. Valentine's Day - Bonne Saint Valentin
love and isses - tendres baisers
love (noun) - l'amour
I love you - je t'aime

Activity:
What you will need:
Construction paper or white paper
scissors
crayons

What to do:
1. Cut out a heart from construction paper (a pretend candy box). Then, cut out little rectangles (pretend chocolate candies).
2. Write the numbers 1-10 (or whatever vocabulary you are focusing on.) on the pretend chocolate candies and you can have your child decorate them as well.
3. Have you child glue the pretend chocolate candies on the heart. Every time they glue one on, they can say the number in French.

Options:
You can use an empty heart shaped candy box. Also, you can write anything on the candy pieces (colors, animals, etc.).

Putting it together...a French grammar lesson for kids

A lot of my posts are about different vocabulary words that you can teach your children in French. Now it is time to teach them a little grammar. You can start with the verb to be: être. You conjugate it like this, but this is for your information, you don't need to teach your child how to conjugate.

je suis - I am
tu es - you are (familiar)
il/elle/on est - he, she, one is
nous sommes - we are
vous êtes - you are (formal)
ils/elles sont - they are (mas/fem)

You might want to start by only teaching "Je suis" and "You are." I know that some people choose to have their children speak to them using the formal tone, while others have their children speak to them using the familiar. It's up to you.

Activity:
What you will need:
construction paper
crayons
scissors

What to do:
1. First, you and your child can make masks of various animals. As you are making the masks, you can say the names of the animals in French.
2. Afterwards, you and your child can take turns saying what they are and the other person is. For example: Je suis un lion.

Need a quicker activity?
Instead of making masks, you can use halloween costumes or any costumes you have and do the same thing. Dress up and say what you are in French!

Teach your children weather in French

Brrrr...it's cold outside. Now is the time to teach some different phrases to your child in French. Here are a few weather phrases in French:


Vocabulary:
Quel temp fait-il? - How's the weather?

Il fait frais. - The weather is cool. (lit: It makes cool.)

Il fait beau. - The weather is pretty/nice.

Il fait froid. - The weather is cold.

Il fait chaud. - The weather is hot.

Il neige - It's snowing.

Il pleut - It's raining.

Il y a du vent - There is some wind.

Il y a des nuages - There are some clouds.

Activity:
Here's an activity you can do with your child to reinforce learning these few weather phrases. Double click on the picture above and print it out. Then cut out the different boxes of weather. You can use them as flash cards!