Here’s the French poem Le Thé (Tea) by Théodore de Banville with an mp3 recording.  After the poem you’ll find an English translation. MP3 of Le Thé Le Thé Miss Ellen, versez-moi le Thé Dans la belle tasse chinoise, Où des poissons d’or cherchent noise ...

Here’s a lovely poem about The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson with a couple of mp3 renditions. MP3 of The Wind 2nd MP3 of The Wind The Wind   I saw you toss the kites on high And blow the birds about the sky; And all around I heard you pass, Like ladies’ skirts across the grass– O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind,...

Here’s a little poem about clouds by Christina Rossetti. MP3 of the Poem "Clouds" Clouds by Christina Rossetti White sheep, white sheep, On a blue hill, When the wind stops You all stand still When the wind blows You walk...

Reduplications are words or phrases that contain a duplicated element.  An example is the phrase "riffraff".  The two parts of the word are almost the same (i.e. "riff" and "raff"), but they have a small change (the vowels).  When you have a rhyming reduplication, the duplicated element rhymes with the original element in the phrase. ...

Jeff Gilpin sent this lullaby with the following note, "Here is a song I wrote after visiting my wife’s sister in Ayase which is outside of Tokyo, Japan. I think it is very kid friendly and I hope you like it add it to your list of children songs. It is called Ayase Lullaby. Here...

See the beauty that is Earth.

MP3 of Hope is the thing with feathers "Hope" is the thing with feathers By Emily Dickinson "Hope" is the thing with feathers- That perches in the soul- And sings the tune without the words- And never stops-at all- And sweetest-in the Gale-is heard- ...

Booktrust did a survey of over 2,500 people in the UK to determine the top nursery rhymes.  Here they are with links to their lyrics (most of the links have mp3’s or videos too): 1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 2. Incey Wincey Spider 3. Round And Round The Garden 4. Baa Baa Black Sheep 5. The...

Check out the short video below… Astronaut, Chris Hadfield wrings out a washcloth on the International Space Station.  It’s so cool!  Show it to your kids and watch it.  It will make you feel like a kid again.

Monique was here visiting from France for the past two weeks and we worked on creating Spanish and French versions of our books and apps. (They should be available soon.) Here’s a link to our current books and apps.

French Pronunciation is a site that helps you improve your French pronunciation.  You can listen to recordings of the sounds you find difficult to pronounce and then practice along with them.

My family and I took a trip to Washington DC last weekend.  It’s the first time we’d been there in many years and there have been a lot of changes.  Several new major monuments have opened. One of the most impressive is the FDR Monument.  It’s a particularly great destination if anyone in your party...

"La nuit porte conseil" is French for "sleep on it".  It means, think about it overnight and don’t make a decision until tomorrow… often good advice! The photo is this saying on the door of a Broom closet in Herald Square (New York). –Mama Lisa