On this blog, I usually share handmade activities and toy projects but today I wanted to share nice screen activities.
It is not easy to find applications with a serene and arty design. So I wanted to share the latest results of my AppHunt!
– La Foret -Gallimard jeunesse
-Pierre et le Loup -France Televisions Distribution
Do you know well designed and visually attractive applications for children? Let’s share them here or on Instagram or Facebook.
We do have a few Harry Potter fans here, and spells are flying from every corner of the house. (Shame it doesn’t work though, I will do with a few Quietus! Repairo! or a good Accio! spell to find a lost sock 😉
After reading all the books, we made a little potions kit and my son carved a wand in a Gumtree branch:
Now the children have hours of pretend play ahead!
The latest project for those rainy and cold winter days: build a terrarium! Before assembling it, we went to the beach to collect tiny seashells, to the river to collect peebles, a few acorns from the park and some red sand from our hourglass collection. Next time we are heading to the forest, we will collect a bit of moss. Meanwhile, here is the beginning of our tiny garden for fairies, blue wren and ladybug :
For all the paper lovers, this is a really neat and impressive project to do with children.
We came across a template to build a Flextangle by BabbleDabbleDo. (Follow the link to her website to find the template to print)
And with them, we’ve been practicing our Stop Motion skills with this 12 secondes video:
Pour tous les amoureux du papier, voici une petite activité sympa à faire avec les enfants.
Nous avons trouvé le patron d’un Flextangle sur le site de BabbleDabbleDo. (Suivez le lien vers son site pour imprimer le patron.)
Ensuite nous nous sommes amusés à faire une petite video en Stop Motion de 12 secondes.
Bon weekend pluvieux!
Aujourd’hui c’est vendredi et on démonte un appareil photo qui ne fonctionne plus du tout. Alors les mini vis et mini éléments en tout genre, il y en plein! Un beau moment plein de curiosité, mais alors quelle galère pour répondre aux questions: “qu’est ce que c’est cette piece, maman?” heu… bin heu pfff voyons voir sur Internet…
Aller faire un tour sur le site de TODD MCLELLAN, c’est beau!
La prochaine fois ce sera au tour du grille pain, ce sera beaucoup plus facile!
Today is Friday and we are disassembling on old photo camera that doesn’t work anymore. So there was so many-tiny screws and other tiny things! A nice moment of discovery, but such a hard work to answer the question: “What is this maman?” hmm…well…let’s check the Internet.
Go and check the work of TODD MCLELLAN, it is so neat!
Next time it will be the toaster’s turn, much easier!
After reading a book about optical illusions, we made a Thaumatrope with a kangaroo wearing boots and a top hat. And who wants a bit of wikipedia to start the day? 😉
“A Thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in the 19th century. A disk with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to blend into one.”
If you want to make the same one, here is the PDF to print: (you will then need to attach a loop of string (40cm )to each side and twist them before pulling them appart.) Thaumatrope Paris-Bourke <- Click to see PDF I couldn’t make the video go faster to be able to see the illusion on screen, but you will get the idea:
La découverte du site internet -Royal Institution- nous inspire tellement sur les activités du moment, qu’il faut absolument qu’on partage ce lien: http://rigb.org/experimental/rubber-band-cannons
Nous avons fabriqué des cannons à élastiques très simple et parfait pour jouer au chamboule-tout.
We just discovered a great website from the Royal Institution of Great Britain. We’ve made their Rubber band cannons and had so much fun. Here is the link: http://rigb.org/experimental/rubber-band-cannons
Un petit project facile à faire avec les enfants: mettre des aimants derriere des puzzles, des cartes ou des lettres en bois. (il faut juste trouver des feuilles d’aimant souples et adhésives)
An easy project to do with the children: glue magnets behind puzzles or wooden letters.
De quoi décorer (ou cacher) le réfrigérateur…
Good to decorate (or hide) the fridge…;-)
We are letting the last colours of Autumn go…
Nous laissons partir les dernières couleurs de l’automne…
Painted Helicopter Seeds, Landing Video:
What a find! On the side of the road, in the middle of old bikes, was an old typing machine, with a Grec alphabet! After a good wash we gave it to the children in the beginning of a rainy afternoon.They spend the full afternoon playing with it, being police officer taking complaints or giving fine to the other one and even creating a ”Wanted” poster!
Quelle trouvaille, sur le bord de la route, au milieu de vieux vélos, il y avait une vielle machine à écrire, avec l’alphabet Grecque! Après l’avoir nettoyé, nous l’avons donné aux enfants au début d’un apres-midi pluvieux. Ils ont joué aux policiers l’après-midi entier tapant des plaintes ou donnant des amendes, ils ont même accroché une affiche d’avis de recherche!
C’est rigolo comment un objet puisse inspirer un jeu de rôle si précis dans leur esprit.
It is funny how one object can be the start of a fabulous role play in their mind.
This weekend, I let the children use some wooden discs from the Australian Map Game. I just asked them what was Australia for them and they started drawing kangourous, camper vans,the sun, a hotdog, the beach, the sea, the opera house, a tent, some red earth and my favourite: a rhino on a skateboard! We even let the friends join in!
Only the people from Melbourne will understand.;-) (The Rhino on the skateboard campaign was created to encourage pedestrians to stay alert around trams.)
Ce weekend, j’ai laissé mes enfants jouer avec les disque de bois du jeu d’Australie. Je leur ai demandé ce que l’Australie était pour eux et ils ont commencé à dessiner des kangouroux, des camping cars, le soleil, la plage, la mer, l’opéra de Sydney, une tente, la terre rouge et mon préféré: un rhinocéros sur un Skateboard!
Seulement les Melbourniens comprendront. Il s’agit d’une affiche créée pour encourager les piétons à rester prudent autour des trams.
Bonne journée!
In our house, when you lose a baby tooth, the tiny french mouse (or tooth fairy) comes and a little crystal is left behind. Now that the collection is growing quite quickly, we decided to ”build”our own crystals! (thanks to my friend and the website Scope for the idea.)
Chez nous, quand la petite souris passe, elle laisse derrière elle une petite pierre semi-precieuse. Maintenant que la collection est déjà bien grande, nous avons décidé de “fabriquer” nos propres cristaux! (Merci à mon amie et au site web Scope pour la bonne idée.)
You will need: Hot Water, Borax, Pipe Cleaners, 1 plastic container, 1 wooden spoon and some string. (and 24h of patience.)
Vous avez besoin de: Borax, Eau chaude, 1 pot en plastique, 1 cuillère en bois et de la ficelle.(et 24h de patience.)
-Une tasse d’eau pour 3 cuillères à soupe de Borax-
-One cup of water for 3 large spoons of Borax-
Laisser suspendre les formes de chenille dans la solution et attendre le lendemain.
Let the pipe cleaner hang in the liquid and wait for tomorrow.
Et voilà!
Tadaam!
Pizza: This is what my daughter wants to make for dinner every single night…well, let me tell you, she is disappointed most of the time. (6 days out of 7 more exactly.) It took me a long time to find a solution to her frustration, but one day I opened my scrap of felt box and gave it to her with just one sentence:”maybe you can make a pizza for your doll with that?” Off she went in her bedroom while I could cook something else.
30 minutes later, here is what she made: a pizza Margarita with ham, cheese, thyme, sesame seeds and mozzarella. It looked as beautiful as her smile!
Pizza:Voici le menu que ma fille veut cuisiner chaque soir…laissez moi vous dire qu’elle est déçue la plupart du temps. J’ai mis du temps a trouver une solution à sa frustration: l’autre jour j’ai ouvert ma boite à coupons de feutrine, le lui ai donné en lui proposant de fabriquer une pizza pour sa poupée pendant la préparation du dîner.
Une demi-heure plus tard, voici le résultat: une pizza Margarita avec du jambon, du fromage, du thym, des graines de sésame et de la mozzarelle. C’était aussi beau que son sourire!
from this:
to this:
Now we have a lot of felted sesame seed and thyme around the house but hey that’s worth it!
Bon la vérité c’est que nous avons plein de graines de sésame e de thym en feutrine un peu partout dans la maison mais bon, ça vaut le coup!
The other day, a lady at the park was complaining about the holidays and how she found it difficult to entertain her children, asking about ideas. Well, you know, I might have one or two activities for you, but the best for us is to do the thing that we want and let the children join in, and yes, it will get messy. But even with the cleaning, they will help! Yes, it will take you about 2 hours to make that tart, but you wanted to keep them busy no? 😉
Mes chères lectrices francophones, voulez-vous que je continue à traduire en français ?
But last night, while the children were asleep, I made a cake…alone…. just by myself…without helpers around….without questions to answer…just with my music, calm and absolutely no flour or sugar on the floor! Oh that was so fast! Dear Sanity, I love you!
Maintenant mes deux enfants peuvent s’envoler en même temps, avec cette paire d’ailes rose et rouge.
Now my children will be able to fly at the same time with those pink and red wings.
I need to replace my camera and I will show you both of them at the same time, maybe flying over the ocean.;-)
Paris-Bourke 
