Playtime on Thursday 24th March

Happy Mother's day !

In France Mother's day is in June but as in Ireland, it's celebrated on 3rd April, next playtime will be about this theme. 

Children will prepare a little present to tell their mummy how much they love her ! 

They will learn a little "comptine" (song) in French and might be able to remember it on Mother's day ! 

I don't tell anything more, to keep the surprise ! 

How to make colored dough ?

On Thursday 10th March playtime, children played with "homemade" colored dough and realized a candle holder.
Here is the instructions to make colored dough at home with kids :





You need : (to make two colors)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
- two different colors of paint (green and bleu for example)

1/ Put 1 cup of flour in two different bowls and add 1/2 cup of salt.

2/ Put 1/2 cup water (or a little bit less to be sure your dough won't be too sticky) in a glass and add some paint (around 1 tablespoon is good). Stir well until the water is well colored. Add a little bit more paint if it's too light colored. Do the same for the other color, in another glass.

3/ Add each glass of colored water in one bowl and mix it with flour and salt. It it's too sticky, add flour and if it's too dry, add water (with or without paint).

You can keep your dough in a container or a plastic bag.

Your child can simply play with it or make something to keep it, like animals, candle holder, photo holder... If you want to keep it, try to do something quite slim, in order it could dry. Let creations dry during several days (time depend of how big are creations).

Playtime on Thursday 3rd March

This playtime will be about words and sentences you must know when you go to France.


I will teach children to say "My name is..." and "What's your name?" and a lot of other important words (with songs and little plays).




Moreover, children will cook ham and cheese croissants !

Breton Little Boats

I hope every children enjoyed to bake the little boats and to eat them too ! The kind of cake is called "madeleines" in France and are very famous. 
To bake them, we use a special pan but you can use some muffins tin, they'll just look not like boats but will still be very yammy ! 




Preparation time : 15 min
Cooking time : 10 min

Ingredients (20 "madeleines" in muffin holes) :
- 200 g butter, melted
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 130 g sugar
- 200 g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tsp lemon rind or lemon juice (optional)
- vanilla liquid
- 60 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Mix together beaten eggs and sugar. 

         

                             Add flour, vanilla and baking powder.

Make a well in the center and add melted butter (and lemon). Stir until the mixture is well combined. 

Put the madeleine dough in your fridge during 15 minutes.

Lightly grease muffin holes and fill each about half full. 

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

Third playtime : Thursday 27th January

A Colorful Day

This 3rd playtime will be very colorful ! The aim is that children can learn basic colors by playing and creating.

What will we do ?

- French flag colors (introduction activity)

- Rainbow colors (arts & craft)

- Colored stars in my milk ! (science experience)

- How to describe somebody by using colors ? (Mr Men & Little Miss game)

- "La chanson des couleurs" (colors song)

Second playtime : Thursday 20/01

   


For the second one, we will travel in Brittany during 2 hours ! 

Brittany is a region in the north-west of France, divided into four departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, and Morbihan in the south.

Breton gastronomy : 

- les galettes de blé noir : very thin, wide pancakes made from buckwheat flour are eaten with ham, eggs and other savoury fillings. They are usually called galettes, and often served with a cup of cider.

                                                       

- les crêpes : they are made from wheat flour are eaten for dessert or for breakfast.

Other pastries, such as kouign amann ("butter cake" in Breton) made from bread dough, butter and sugar, or far Breton, a sort of sweetYorkshire pudding, are traditional. 

During second playtime, we won't cook any of those because they are not enough fun recipies for children but I will publish recipes if you want to try it at home !

Breton dance : 

It is traditional dance of the French region of Brittany.

Video : Breton dance demonstration

Second french playtime activities :

- Little Breton boats to eat 

- Breton dance initiation 

Your child can wear black and white if he/she wants to wear Breton colors during this playtime.

What's a French playtime ?

During French playtime your child will do two main activities such as baking, cooking, arts & crafts and science experiments. Each session will be based on a theme.
Recipes and instructions will be in French, using simple words that children can learn and remember.

Children will also listen to French songs and stories.

Children always bring home their creations and what they cooked !