Hair Bow Match-Inspired by Minnie In Paris

I LOVE Paris. It’s hard to put into words how much I love Paris. The first time I visited I was 16 and it felt like home. I have since gone back a handful of times and can not wait to take my children. The thought of taking my daughter on a trans Atlantic flight gives me hives, so until she is a better flyer we are going to be visiting Paris in books. When I was asked to create a fun activity to go with Minnie In Paris by Shelia Sweeney Higginson I couldn’t wait for the book to arrive. My daughter loves Minnie Mouse and doing anything with other languages. I decided to create a bilingual match game that used patterned paper hair bows for her to match. Each match unlocked a new word to learn in French. She said it felt like a secret code. I loved that.

Here is how you can introduce some French words and play a fun game at the same time.

This post is sponsored by Disney Publishing.

Gather your materials. You will need some colorful card stock and fun patterned paper, glue, scissors, pencil, a paper punch ( or some serious scissor skills to make circles), a marker and the book of course!

Start by making a template out of card stock. I folded the paper so it would be symmetrical.

Use the template to cut out various color bows. I made mine with matching colors because I didn’t want this to be too challenging for my daughter who is 3. There were a few colors with multiple bows so they weren’t all obvious matches but I balanced it so there was success and challenge. Older kids would get all pink !

Next trim the template.

Use the trimmed template to cut out the pattered paper. Make two of each pattern. The kids are really matching up the patterns and then the adult is helping them learn the words. Obviously at 3 most kids, my daughter included aren’t reading at this level,  if you want to make it an independent activity use letters or numbers. But as you will see we had a blast playing together.

Cut out circles for the middle of the bows.

Write words on the circles, one in French and a matching one in English. If you aren’t familiar with French use Google Translate to pop in words from the book. I used :

girl – fille
thank you – merci
pink – rose
goodbye – aurevoir
skirt – jupe
garden – jardin

Glue all the pieces together.

Time to play! Put the bows face down and play memory match. Each player flipping over two bows a turn. If the patterns match read the French word and ask your child to try to guess what it means, then read it in English to find out.

 

If there was any question about how fun this game was look at that face! Anyone who knows my daughter will attest to the fact that you can’t make her smile unless she really is having fun. I was so pleased to be able to share this with her. Not only does it widen her horizons to understand that other people use different languages than she does but the book lets her get a taste for my favorite city in the whole world.

 

 

Minnie In Paris – In Stores Now!
by Shelia Sweeny Higginson
Illustrated by Mike Wall

About The Book – from the publisher :

Fashion is Minnie’s passion! And, as a result, she’s been invited to show her bows on the runways of Paris!

At the airport, Minnie is so busy taking care of her nieces, Millie and Melody, that she accidentally switches suitcases with Penguini the magician–and finds that his suitcase is full of bunnies instead of bows! Minnie must round up the mischievous little bunnies, find Penguini, and make her bows in time for the show. Will she make it?

Readers are treated to a stunning tour of famous Parisian locations, from the Louvre to Tuilleries Gardens to the Eiffel tower, to a classic Parisian bistro””all in search of Penguini’s bunnies.

This charming hardcover picture book comes with a code to access the Minnie in Paris eBook.

Visit the Minnie in Paris product page

My thoughts :

I am never surprised when my daughter likes character driven books but I am when I do. I really enjoyed this book and was worried it would look all ragged in our photos because we’ve been reading it a lot. I like that the book was a fun tour of Paris and I took the time on each page to tell my daughter a little more about each landmark . It’s a sweet book and the illustrations by Mike Wall are awesome. I felt like I was on a ride at Disneyland with all the bright colors and details on each page.

 

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As mentioned above this post is sponsored by Disney Publishing.