Tapent, tapent, petites mains – Clap, Clap, Little Hands – A French Pat-a-cake Song with a YouTube Video

We were just noticing how Pat-a-cake songs seem to be universal. Perhaps they help teach children to use their hands… Tapent, tapent, petites mains Tourne, tourne, joli moulin, Nage, nage, gentil poisson Vole, vole papillon Clap, clap, little hands, Turn, turn, pretty mill, Swim, swim, nice fish, Fly, fly, butterfly! Feel free to share a Pat-a-cake song from your country in the comments [...]

Frere Jacques – Brother John with an MP3 Recording in French and English

Here's a nice recording of Frère Jacques in both French and English by Ezwa. Here are the lyrics of the French and English versions of Frère Jacques. The version on the mp3 recording mixes these lyrics… Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines. Sonnez les matines. Ding, ding, dong. Ding, ding, dong. Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John? Morning bells are ringing. Morning bells [...]

Two French Goodbye Songs with Recordings

I was recently asked for a Goodbye Song in French. While looking for a song I found out that some French school teachers use the French version of Auld Lang Syne, “Ce n'est qu'un au revoir”, as a Goodbye Song. It's a Scout song that's also called “Le chant des adieux”. When teachers [...]

Recipe for Bavarian Fruit

Monique Palomares, who works with me on the French version of Mama Lisa's World, sent me this blog post and recipe from France… This morning, I made a full cake pan of "bavarois aux fruits" (Bavarian Fruit) for this evening…  it's an easy and cool recipe to make for the summer: 1 liter (4 cups) Fruit [...]

French Hello Song “Bonjour” with MP3

Hello songs are a wonderful way to help children who are learning a foreign language. It's also nice for children to always sing the same song at the beginning of a class. Hello songs are great for this. The song below is called “Bonjour”. It's a French hello song written and [...]

The Online Children's Book, "Our Children" ("Les enfants") by Anatole France

Project Gutenberg just released an online version of Anatole France's book "Les enfants" in English.  It's called "Our Children", which is a collection of little stories for kids.  It has some lovely illustrations. I read a couple of stories from it to my daughter yesterday and she enjoyed them.  The book is from around 1886.  So [...]

Making Vibrant Easter Eggs, with Photos

This year we didn't have a lot of time for egg dying.  So we used a PAAS egg dye kit.  By the end we wanted to add a little extra pizzazz to the colors, so we put in about 5 drops of McCormack's Neon food dyes to the different colors of PAAS dye.  The colors [...]

April Fools Day

“The first day of April you may send a fool whither you will.” There are two tricks that have been customarily done on April Fool's Day around the world. One of the oldest tricks was to pin something to the back of the unsuspecting person. Sometimes it was a cardboard fish, sometimes a note [...]

Radio France Podcasts

Radio France has French news podcasts that are spoken a little slower than normal for people who don't speak French as a first language.  I found them reasonable to understand.  Check it out if you know some French and would like to practice! If you're fluent in French, up to a challenge, or just want [...]

2 French Tongue Twisters with a YouTube Video with Translations

These tongue twisters were recited by François Martini, who gives the instructions: “À dire très vite” (To say very quickly). Below the video, you'll find the tongue twisters written in French with their English translations… “Un chasseur sachant chasser sait chasser sans son chien.” (A hunter knowing how to hunt knows how to hunt without [...]