5 tips to cope with post-Christmas limbo with children
How are you all feeling?
It's been such a strange Christmas season here in London: Lockdown 3.0 (rebranded as Tier 4), no family, but lots of it at the same time.
Nothing much to do.
Nowhere much to go.
And everyone will feel differently about it.
According to my little Instagram Story poll today, 92% of you LOVE this time.
And I have to admit that I do too.
No pressure.
Lots of leftovers.
Totally acceptable to have the TV on all afternoon, eat cr*p all day and have Bailey's in your hot chocolate.
But some people hate it.
And some find it a bit...meh?
So here are my 5 top tips to cope with the post-Christmas limbo, whilst also practising your French!
1. Make a 2020 family time capsule or gratitude jar
Here is some useful French vocab for it:
Merci pour: thank you for
Mon activité préférée: my favourite activity
Mon jour préféré: my favourite day
Mon film préféré: my favourite film
Ma chanson préférée: my favourite song
Mon jeu préféré: my favourite game
Mon parc préféré: my favourite park
Mon plat préféré: my favourite dish
J'ai aimé: I enjoyed
See this brilliant post for step-by-step ideas on how to make a family 2020 time-capsule.
2. Make your own DIY French family calendar for 2021
Print our FREE downloadable DIY 2021 calendar and choose some favourite photos to print, draw pictures, make collages from magazines or nature walks... make it yours!
>>> download our FREE 2021 DIY family calendar below <<<
We'd love to see your creations, so don't forget to tag us on social media.
(Please feel free to share this free resource, but remember to credit Coucou Loulou).
3. Print out these brilliant Photo-booth props and get them ready for NYE
...and take your best 2020 pictures yet!
Thank you RedTedArt for yet another brilliant idea.
4. Watch one of our new videos on YouTube
Have you seen our new songs?
There's the teethbrushing song, which apparently trumps the Hey Duggee one - or so I am told...
And there's our own little Singalong version of Vive le Vent, complete with lyrics, as well as some stories.
And if you'd like the children to be busy for the next 30 or so minutes, you could even access the pre-recorded Christmas party for 0-3 year olds or 3-9 year olds*.
* these particular videos are #paywhatyoucan, starting at just £2.
5. Spend some Quality Time with your children
Be it through helping them build their new sets of Lego, playing boardgames, reading books or even crafting together, now is the time to leave your phones on silent and be fully present with your child.
Not sure where to begin?
You can now get our craft-along as a digitial only product - perfect if you already have quite a lot of crafting materials at home. And bonus: no need to wait for the postman to deliver all the goodies, you can get started straight away!
I have created a set of 4 brilliant craft-along videos and they come with lots of FREE bonus activities.
Here is what you get in this online craft-along bundle:
Four fun, self-paced, craft-along videos, lasting about 15/20 minutes each
All the templates, ready to print at home
A comprehensive list of materials
3 brilliant, FREE bonus activities:
Bonus 1: Christmas-card craft-along + French card-writing guide
Bonus 2: 18 pages of fun, festive French activities from our Advent Calendar
Bonus 3: A special Christmas puppet-show, printable dialogues and puppet templates
Over 1.5 hours of recorded, educational videos in total
And you can get all of this for just £8.99.
Not very crafty?
Don't worry - the crafts are easy but still challenging enough that the children will enjoy them. They create very minimal mess (no painting or glitter, whoop!) and of course, you and your children will get to practise lots of topical vocabulary in each activity.
>>> Get the Craft-Along bundle here<<<
But don't just take it from me: this is what other parents have said about our craft-along activities:
"I was watching one of the craft videos and it's just wonderful. Like, truly great."
Nuala, mum of 2
"He LOVED it. Totally engaged and smiling at Loulou, answering you in French where he could and giggling along. [...] Seriously, it was epic!! We started today with the gingerbread house and he was hooked from the beginning. [...] I have just ordered a pack for my sister's kids."
Jo, mum of 2
"Thank you so much Florence. Really great activity, my daughter who is three concentrated for almost an hour! And for me not being very crafty, I found it very accessible."
Elise, mum of 1
Don't have any craft materials at home?
No problem - you can still get our craft kits here.
They contain everything you need to complete the four festive crafts mentioned above.
So here you are - I hope you LOVE these activities and have a lovely post-Christmas/pre-NYE lull 🎄🌟👪🥂🎇!
I will be back soon with a brilliant NYE countdown activity, so stay tuned, stay safe and yes, you should definitely have another.*
Florence
* another what? That's for you to decide!
