It's birthday week for my three girls.
It took them awhile to agree on a theme.
Paris + kitty cats + French pastries.
Kitty cat cafe ?
Ooh la la.
And you know me - I love any chance to make art,
especially for a party.
And you know me - I love any chance to make art,
especially for a party.
After researching all manner of things French,
I sat down to sketch in the book fort.
(Avec iced coffee in a jar, no less.)
Oh, happy day, mes petits.
I think I'll make some hanging art
and some tiny, cupcake art.
I should probably figure out games.
I'm no good at games.
Anyone?
Hide the baguettes?
Name the French cities?
Guess the French words?
Some French books we love:
This is Paris - Miroslav Sasek
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Story of Babar - Jean de Brunhoff
The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle by Barbara McClintock
Madame Martine by Sarah S. Brannen
The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems & Toni DiTerlizzi
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, ill. by Terry Fan
7 comments:
Your lucky girls! You make everything so extra special! I always love your art, Faith. The people holding cats and those pastries--oo-la-la! And that image with the girls in the street with the white kitty is fabulous!
It will be a wonderful party! Oi! (I took Spanish, so that was me really maxing out my French skills.)
Merci, Dawn! I figure we can't go wrong with cocoa and pastries, right?
Your illustrations are SO adorable. PLEASE write a picture book set in Paris.
A couple weeks ago, my girls and I had a blast studying France--I admit to deciding that experiencing as many pastries as humanly possible was an important part of our education. :) We also read lots of France books--Adele and Simon was a favorite. And our France game was "Building the Eiffel Tower" with a puzzle. (I'm not good with games, either. :)
I wish I could crash your party!! Our fav party game is a treasure hunt. I would write rhyming poetic hints as to the location of the next clue and give the first clue to the birthdaychild. I'd send gaggles of kids up to the top of the garden, into the basement and then back upstairs in the house. The final clue led them to some kind of treasure. For my older sons parties it was usually a box full of small Lego sets -- one kit per each guest -- and then the children would spend the next 30 minutes assembling the sets. May be your final treasure stash could be a French related craft? Assemblez des chapeaux charmants? Petit Fours? Un grand gateau?
My poems were silly. For example: You can wash your hands or take a drink. The next clue is beneath a ------! (Then they'd have to check under every sink in the entire house!!). Or "Bubble bubble. Scrub scrub. You'll find the next clue in the -----!" Some times I'd get tricky and cut up the notes like puzzles and lead the children to the vicinity in which I'd hidden each piece separately.
It's a fair amount of work to hide all the notes (right before the party so the children won't stumble onto them ahead of time!) but everyone loved it!!!
Hope the celebrations are piles of fun!!!
Thank you, Faith! A picture book set in Paris sounds divine. I may have to do some of your kind of research. I love that you and your girls enjoyed the pastry side of education. Don't you think learning steeped in joy is retained much longer than the usual route? And how could I forget Adele and Simon? ! I think I'd better make a follow up post with more French books, because I keep thinking of treasures I missed!
Margaret! I wish you could crash our party, too! I love, love, love your treasure hunt and clever clues idea. I will do some more thinking on this. Thank you! Merci!
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