Lego Summer Camp at Fleur de Lis French American Montessori School.  This is a great way for your kids to learn French and have lots of fun too!   The school is located in the lovely town of Middleburg, VA.   Summer camp run from beginning of June to end of August.  For children ages 2 to 12.  Weekly or monthly options available.  Please visit the school's website for more details.  

Links to good French "Imagiers" (picture dictionaries)

There are lots of resources online for French picture dictionaries for children.  Here are a few website where you can bring the pages and have the children learn the words along with the letters.  I have also added a few recommended picture dictionaries.

- L'imagier de la ferme
- Livre de lecture et d'écriture
- Imagier à colorier pour apprendre les lettres 
- Alphabet à colorier
- French/English picture dictionary
- L'imagerie des tous petits (book collection)
- L'imagier Français-Anglais (pour les enfants de 0 à 4 ans)
- The Usborne Book of Everyday Words in French (French Edition)
- Richard Scarry's Best Word Book (French edition)

French cartoons on the web!

Find French cartoons on the web at Daily Motion.  Includes popular kid's cartoons such as Petit Ours Brun, Lucky Luke, Babar, Les Malheurs de Sophie, Trotro, Spirou, Droles de Petites Betes, Famille Pirate and more.  For more information about the shows, go to eTOON website.  eTOON provides a list of places you can view the videos and/or download them.  



Babar - les premiers pas de Babar
Uploaded by Etoon. - Watch the latest news videos.

Wall Street Journal article "Building a more Resilient Brain"

Very interesting article in the Wall Street journal about a recent research showing that speaking two or more languages appears to pay off in old age, delaying the symptoms of dementia by an average of four years in bilingual people.  The article can be read here. 

Kids Euro Festival: France

When: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 11:00am-4:00pm

Where:  The Launch Zone, 112 Waterfront St., National Harbor, MD 20745

Website: NCM Kids Euro Festival 

The NCM Launch Zone is pleased to host 2010 Kids Euro Festival performances and workshops presented by the 27 European Union Member States and independent cultural partners. Join us each Saturday for a variety of programs showcasing different European Union countries.

French born American author, Elle Jauffret tells the story of Pierre and his rite of passage in a workshop based on the Mont Saint Michel story, "The Maze." Participate in a paper maze, challenge yourself in a word search, and sample foods from Normandy as Elle brings “The Maze” to life!The Kids Euro Festival takes place from October 14 to November 10. Additional free festival events are held daily at venues throughout the Washington area. For more information, visit Kids Euro Festival website.  

C'est l'automne!!

With Fall beginning this week, here is a lot of French resources for preschooler to do at home or at school. I highly recommend the site La Maternelle de Moustache - under the letter "P", look for "Pomme".  Great ideas for crafts, early writting, games etc.  DLTK's autumn page has some really great ideas for crafts and they let you customize your own Bingo and Domino cards!  Also check out this website for great math and language exercises for the little ones.  A La Tete a Modeler and the Ecole Pratique websites has also some great ideas and materials to download and print.  First School website has lots of activities too.  Links to French websites with fall activities can be find on the Pomverte website.  I have created my own bingo games full of fall things.  If anyone is interested in seeing them, please let me know and I can post them online for you to download them.  I created a 2 x 2 bingo for the little ones and a 3 x 3 bingo card for the older kids.

Come play with Caillou in French!

Viens jouer avec Caillou!  The Caillou website has a great selection of online games and activities.

YouTube has also a good selection of Caillou episodes.  See below.
 

Great website with words to French songs, activities etc!

This website is full of great ideas for the new school year!  You can print an alphabet poster, weekly calendar, book name tags etc, all in French.  Website is full of great French song (words are provided).  For a full list of activities for the new school year, click here.  For a list of songs, specifically "rondes", click here.

Check out Momes's blog too here!

Interesting NYTimes article about raising bilingual children

Looking for Baby Sitters: Foreign Language a Must - "[...] bilingual children do better at complex tasks like isolating information presented in confusing ways.  [...] Bilingual children are faster at identifying what color the word is written in, a fact researchers attribute to a more developed prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive decision-making, like which language to use with certain people)".  Interesting article (click here).  I am not sure I would agree with all of the article, especially when it comes to "bilingualism tended to suppress verbal and reading comprehension test scores".  I think we are giving our children a gift to be able to learn more than one language at such an early age.  Not only are we forming their ears to different language sounds but also opening their environment to other cultures, which will have lifelong benefits!  And I guess if learning more than one language helps them with nonlinguistic abilities like science and math, I guess it's a plus!  

Tumblebooks - eBooks in French for kids!

Tumblebooks is an online library of animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading.  Tumblebooks are created by taking existing picture books, adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you.  Interactive puzzles and games, audiobooks, as well as titles in Spanish, French and other languages are available online.  Click here to view book titles in French.

"Learning French In and Around the Garden" series from BabyBilingual Blog

Please check these great hands-on activities you can do to help your kids learn French posted by the author of Baby Bilingual Blog.  The author has put together a series of activities.
Part I: Music, rhythm, and rhyme
Part II: Art and drama activities
Part III: Literacy activities
Part IV: Kinesthetic Activities

This is a great kid magazine for ages 1 to 3 years old.  I personally think it is best for children 2 to 4 years old who are learning French at home. Each issue, conceived around a central theme, reflects toddlers emotions and accompanies their explorations of the world around them.  The magazine tells stories of everyday life using funny cartoons, stories, games etc.  A little "Petit Ours Brun" booklet comes with it.  You can order the magazine online on either POPI website, UNI-Presse or Amazon.com.  If you know of other great places to order the magazine, please comment below.  The POPI website currently has a special if you subscribe for a year.  

Love this book collection: Belles Histoires des tout-petits

My son loves this collection!  Great for ages 2 & up.  Highly recommend all of these.  My son's favorite is "Qui veut un bisou?" and "En Avant, Petit Train!".  Many of these can be purchased on FrenchBooksOnline, Amazon and FNAC.com.

French Language Activities

Great preschool and kindergarden fun kid activities in French at Enchanted Learning.  They have coloring book activities, dictionaries and crafts along with materials on animals, clothes, season/weather, shapes, vehicles, numbers, musical instruments and much more.  Great resource for teachers and parents teaching children French!