My daughter has been on a French kick for most of this school year so when we needed to choose a country for the Around the World in 30 Days, France just made sense. We want to share a variety of French resources for all ages of children and skill level for your home or school. I am calling this a mini unit study. I will share some unique activities that we created from easy to find supplies either from home or the craft store.
I did not go and buy anything for our learning but thought of some activities that could be used to learn a variety of skills while learning about France. This post contains affiliate links which allows Something 2 Offer to earn a small percentage of all items purchased through Amazon.com at NO extra cost to you! Thanks for your support.
How to get to France:
This picture show how I would explain to a child how we would get to France. I saw our plastic ariplane and then remembered we had a picture of the Eiffel Tower in a calendar I bought a few years ago. I would allow the child to fly the ariplane around the room for some gross motor time. I would sit and talk about what to pack to go on an airplane trip. For older Elementary students I would talk about TSA guidelines and how to safely pack liquids and medicines like my son’s insulin for diabetes.
France Flag Fine Motor and Sorting Activity Tray:
I found a free printable of the flag of France on Crayola. Then I got out our red, white, and blue, glass florist gems. I grabbed a plastic ramekin to hold the florist gems. This is a quick activity to put together and great for PreK- K student to work on fine motor skills. You can also talk about how many stones it takes to fill each section, etc.
Country of France Pin Punch Activity:
I have seen the pin punch activity many times on other Montessori sites. I even purchased the jumbo push pins a few years ago on clearance at Walmart. We also happen to have a large square of cork which I cut down to fit on this tray from the Dollar Tree. This is a great activity to work on hand-eye coordination as the student uses the pin punch to “trace” the country outline by punching through the paper.
Create your own Magnetic Sculpture Tray:
Since France is known for it’s artists and architecture I thought a sculpture tray would be fun. We found these magnetic pieces a few years ago at a garage sale. Since the packaging was wrecked I decided to put the pieces in a clean Miracle Whip jar. This keeps the pieces away from babies and toddlers who might ingest these pieces. Take extreme caution with any small pieces especially magnets.
Pointillism Art Technique used by Paul Signoac and Georges Seurat who were both from France. This technique is easily duplicated by using a brand new pencil with a flat eraser. I set up this activity outdoors since my tot, Lil’ Red likes to be very adventurous with his artwork. I find him often coloring on his face, legs, and mouth. I used a large plastic tray for easier clean up but you could use a tuff spot or the like. I also used non toxic fingerpaint for my younger children and acrylic paint for my older 2.
Free Resources for France:
France flag coloring page from Crayola
France Printables from Activity Village including story paper, postcard, flag and information.
French Art Techniques defined and found via Wikipedia
French Paper Doll from Education.com- members can print an additional 26 other countries dolls.
French Recipes from All Recipes, BBC Good Food, and Delish.
Outline of France via About.com
This post is part of Cutting Tiny Bites Around the World in 30 Days Series for Toddlers and Preschooler. Be sure to check out all of the other 29 days for tons of cultural fun from around the world.
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