This website is all about French for kids, through fun and hands-on activities, and this simple, low-cost, and easy-to-setup activity is the perfect example of French, made fun.
What you will need:
| Green construction paper* | du papier de construction vert |
| Scissors | des ciseaux |
| Glue stick | un bâton de colle |
| Paper | du papier |
| Christmas stickers | des autocollants de Noël |
*Note: We had a number of green paint swatches at home, so we used those instead.
Steps:
Cut the construction paper into several little Christmas trees. I found it much easier to do this step ahead of time (while mon petit amour was sleeping).
With your child, you can take the opportunity to count the trees together.
Let’s count the Christmas trees!
Comptons les sapins de Noël!
If your child doesn’t already know how to use a glue stick, it’s a great time to teach them how to do so. Demonstrate how to use the stick to put glue on the reverse side of the tree. Then, show them how to glue the first tree onto the paper.
It’s your turn to glue a Christmas tree onto the paper.
C’est à ton tour de coller un sapin sur le papier.
Let them get creative and glue the rest of the trees.
What a beautiful forest.
Quelle belle forêt.
Now, the most fun part: decorating the trees with the stickers! Point the different types of stickers and tell them the French word for each out loud.
We’ll decorate the Christmas trees with these stickers.
Nous allons décorer les sapins avec ces autocollants.
I used the three types of stickers below. If yours are different, check out this previous blog post that focuses on French Christmas vocabulary for kids. As usual, the audio/pronunciation is provided to you.
| Snow flakes | des flocons de neige |
| Christmas ball ornaments | des boules de Noël |
| Stick-on bows | des noeuds autocollants |
If they don’t have practice with stickers, demonstrate to them how to peel them off and stick them onto the trees.
Depending on what your child does, make specific observations that will encourage them to continue.
Oh, I see that you’ve put the star on top of the tree.
Ah, je vois que tu as mis l’étoile au sommet de l’arbre.
My daughter worked on decorating her forest for a good ten minutes, then got distracted. But, throughout the day, she would come back and add a few more stickers. Here is her final masterpiece!
I hope you enjoy this fun activity that makes French for kids fun!
