Country Day: England

We are back to celebrate the country of England. Check out these links to our past posts about Africa, Russia, and France. Then enjoy these fun activities for learning about the beautiful country of England. I spent six months living in England as a college student and fell in love with the culture and people. My favorite thing to do was take the Tube to one of the many incredible museums in London and then picnic along the Thames. I even fed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and once fell off a red Double Decker Bus. I am excited to share my memories of England with my children.

English Crafts

Build your own London Bridge or make a Big Ben out of Legos.

Edible Tea Cups- How adorable are these tea cups for tea with the queen?
Or these?

Hot Chocolate Tea Cups

More English Crafts
Find the instructions for making the queen hat, the robin hood hat, the craft stick palace guards and more!

Look at these cute miniature bows and arrows for Robin Hood and all his little Merry Men. Purchase the kits here or make your own with fun foam, frilled end toothpicks and a small branch and some string.

I love both the bus and telephone booth craft. Or make the phone booth a Tardis by painting it blue! Find the instructions here.

British Bobby Paper Doll and More
Find this cute paper doll to color as well as a British bobby that you could make with a toilet paper roll, English crackers, and many more activities.


English Foods

Union Jack Fruit Pizza

English Trifle

English Scones

All I every really ate in England was McVitie's Digestive Biscuits. One of my close friends has a son serving a mission in England. When he told her he was eating lots of Digestive Biscuits, she thought he was having stomach problems! But really, these are just delicious cookies! You can wash them down with a bottle of squash!

Games Played by English School Children

Playground Games from England
Go to this link for fun games like Queenie-Queenie, 5 Stones, and Please Mr. Crocodile!
I love this funny rhyme!

Please Mr. Crocodile,
May I cross the water?
To see my baby daughter
Who lives in a cup and saucer!
 se m

y crocodile,

English Songs

London Bridge is Falling Down Lyrics
(There are lots more verses than I knew about!)

Ring Around the Rosie

Grand Old Duke



English Expressions

Do you know the meaning of the word Lorry? How about Boot?

Is it this?

Or This?

How about the Loo? Share these fun English expression by labeling different items around the house.
Find lots of fun English expression here.



Picture Books About England

Great Movies Set in England

I hope you enjoy this round up of activities about England. Cheerio!

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Toddler Activities: The Old Grey Cat Activity Song

By: Deborah Pace Rowley

Last week my sister blogged about the fun songs that Anniston loves to sing. This reminded me of the fun songs we used to sing when I taught a two- year-old class at Parent Cooperative Preschool in Salt Lake City. One of the kids favorite songs was "The Old Grey Cat." I have posted a video of a preschool class singing this song below in case you are not familiar with the tune. But we never just sang the song while standing or sitting in place. I think the way that PCP did this song was much more fun. The music leader would divide the class in half. One group would be cats. The other group would be mice. Then the children would act out the song as we sang.

These are the words that I remember. They are slightly different than the song on the video but with the same tune.

The old grey cat is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. The old grey cat is sleeping in the house. (Cat pretends to sleep.)

The little mouse is creeping, creeping, creeping. The little mouse if creeping in the house. (Mouse sneaks around the sleeping cat.)

The old grey cat is waking, waking, waking. The old grey cat is waking in the house. (Cat stretches and starts to wake up.)

The little mouse is scampering, scampering, scampering. The little mouse is scampering in the house. (Little mouse starts to scamper away from the cat.)

The old grey cat is chasing, chasing, chasing. The old grey cat is chasing in the house. (Cat starts to chase the mouse and the music gets faster and faster.)

The little mouse is hiding, hiding, hiding. The little mouse is hiding in the house. (The mouse finds something to hide behind or under like a table or chair.)

The old grey cat is swiping, swiping, swiping. The old grey cat is swiping in the house. (The cat swipes at the mouse but doesn't actually reach him.)

The little mouse is laughing, laughing, laughing. The little mouse is laughing in the house. (The mouse sticks out his/her tongue and sticks his fingers in his ears to tease the mouse. "You can't get me. You can't get me," the mouse seems to say. Then he blows a raspberry to end the song.)

Then we would start the song all over again with the children changing roles. You can play this game with two children or more children if you have a play group over for the day. You can even play this game with one child if you take the role of the cat or the mouse.

I made some paper ears for Brooklyn and Anniston by attaching some simple cutouts to some headbands that we had laying around the house. The ears were fun but not necessary.

The children in our preschool wanted to sing this song over and over again. It is great for helping children learn to follow instructions as they have to follow the cues in the song to know what to do.

Enjoy having a cat and mouse hunt around your house. Here is the video to give you the tune. It is pretty simple and easy to sing.

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Toddler Activities: 10 Songs Your Toddler Will Love to Learn

By Tiffany Rudd

I know I've mentioned this before, but the toddler years really are one of my favorite phases as a mom. I love watching how much Anniston is learning every day. Yes, she is learning how to throw a mean tantrum too, but the fun stuff really does outweigh that (most days).

One of Anniston's favorite things to do right now is sing and she's even able to sing quite a few songs on her own. I'm not going to lie...her jumping on our bed and singing "Five Little Gunkeys (ie Monkeys)" is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

I compiled a quick list of our favorite songs to sing together. I tried to get Anniston to sing at least a few of them on camera for you, but I was unsuccessful. As soon as she sees the video camera, she wants to watch herself - never mind that she hasn't even done anything for me to record yet. It was an un-winnable battle. :)

I did link each song to a place online where you can listen to or purchase the music for the ones you don't know. There are even a few with videos your toddler would love to watch. Enjoy!

1. Head Shoulders, Knees & Toes

2. Itsy Bitsy Spider

3. Five Little Monkeys

4. Five Little Speckled Frogs

5. Six Little Ducks

6. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

7. The Wheels on the Bus

8. Old MacDonald Had a Farm

9. Pat-A-Cake Pat-A-Cake

10. If Your Happy & You Know It

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Toddler Activities: The Elf on the Shelf

By Deborah Pace Rowley

It seems that the elf on the shelf is all the rage right now. Everywhere you look there are posts about how to create the perfect elf mischief. My sister-in-law called and told me that her kids were envious of their friends who had an visiting elf. So she dressed a doll in a red outfit, stuck her on the shelf, and christened her the "doll on the wall!"

Not everyone is a fan of the naughty elf, however. I read one blogger who argued that if your kids need an elf to control their behavior, you are not doing your job as a parent. I have to admit I found it somewhat ironic when I learned that the elf was able to get away with all the behavior he was supposedly reporting. There are opinions on both sides but I liked my sister's perspective. She is a great mom and a super preschool teacher. She knows lots of effective discipline techniques. But she admits that she appreciates the little extra help that her elf provides during the holiday season. Combine all the parties and the sweets, the anticipation and disrupted routines and kid's behavior can quickly become out of control.

If you are in need of some extra mom reinforcement, you do not need to have the "real" toy elf and book to start your own "elf" tradition. I have a laminated Waldo that moves around my classroom regularly and keeps everyone searching for his whereabouts before and after their school day. (Maybe Waldo is also spying on the kids during the day.... if I could only find someone he could report to!)

Below is our free printable ELF that you can use to hide around your home during this Christmas season. Print him out on cardstock or laminate him for extra durability. You will find that he is even more nimble when hiding than his stuffed counterpart. He can hide under and behind things where the real elf wouldn't fit and he can provide lots of learning opportunities as you give clues to his location. You could even sing Christmas songs louder or softer depending on your child's proximity to the elf. He can also be a powerful reminder that Santa is watching so "you better be good for goodness sake." And toddlers can use all the reminders that they can get!

Print out our cute Elf here.

P.S. Tiff wanted me to tell you that the Rudd elf just hides. He doesn't  engage in mischief or he would be sent packing. Also, he is not the elf that comes with the book as Tiff finds him really creepy looking!

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