Since you’ve been learning and practicing your family in French vocabulary (thanks to this wonderful article right here), how about playing with it now? Teaching it is the next level to master. Let’s have a little fun! Here are 5 different types of ways to teach this family vocabulary in French. So easy, anyone can play and learn, pretty much any time.
Growing Up French is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com or amazon.fr at no additional cost to you. It means that I may earn a commission if you make a purchase after you click on a link. Know that I only recommend products that I have personally used and enjoy.
1. Sing a song
There are a few songs about family. The most famous one with papa and maman is “Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère“.
Fais dodo, Colas mon p’ti frère,
Faire dodo, t’auras du lolo.
Maman est en haut
Qui fait du gâteau,
Papa est en bas
Qui fait du chocolat.
Fais dodo, Colas mon p’ti frère,
Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo.
This translates as: Sleep, Colas my lil’ brother, sleep, you’ll have milk. Mom is upstairs making a cake, dad is downstairs making chocolate. Sleep, Colas my lil’ brother, sleep, you’ll have milk.
2. Play le jeu des 7 familles
The game of the 7 families is a card game where one must find all the members of a family (usually 6 members: mom, dad, girl, boy, grandma, grandpa) to win the entire family. You deal 7 cards to each player. The first player (joueur A) asks another player (joueur B) of his choice for a specific family member. If joueur B has it, he has to give it to joueur A. It continues until joueur A gets a no from a player and goes to take a card in the pile of remaining cards. If it’s the one he was asking for, lucky him he can continue asking. If not, it’s another player’s turn.
There are so many different games of the 7 families. A lot will revolve around a theme in particular. Some allow you to learn more about poetry, geography, history…Here we are simply trying to play with the basic family members.
I’ve listed a few of the ones we enjoy.
Our favorite is Le jeu des 7 familles de Djeco.
We’ve had it for years. Worth every penny. There are only 4 family members in this one, it’s much easier for younger children. But my older children still play with it.
Another one is:
This one is quite cute: they are animal families. Each card has a number which makes it easier in case kids get lazy with their French.
3. Read a book
We have read a lot of books on family, how it grows and changes. A lot of them are easy to read in French, and have the basic family vocabulary such as papa, maman, bébé, soeur, frère…You can also translate books you might already have on the matter. We will mention two books we’ve had through our hands.
First one we loved reading over and over is Tchoupi a une petite soeur by Thierry Courtin. Tchoupi is a famous character in France. His adventures are geared towards young children (kindergarten and preschool) and toddlers mainly. In this story, he has a brand new baby sister and learns what it means to live with a baby while maman and papa take care of her.
Note that this book can also be read to you through an app on your phone by scanning the cover (Nathan Live app).
The second book is not a story but more of a look at what is a “basic” family. It is Mon imagier de la famille from the Kididoc collection. It mentions a few family members from great-grand-parents to cousins. These books are also aimed at younger children but it can also help learn spelling of basic words. They are meant to be played with (children can insert their tiny fingers to make certain parts of the pictures move) and they last a while as they are quite sturdy.
4. Play with flashcards
You can build you own flashcards or grab our free family flashcards to print out by subscribing below.
To make your own, just take a few pictures of some of your family members. And ask for the translation in French!
5. Show and tell
Same as with the flashcards: use pictures of family members and ask “C’est qui ? (who is it?)”. Your child can answer very simply with “C’est (It’s)…*insert correct answer in French*”.
Hope this gives you a few ideas to practice that vocabulary! Let us know in the comments.
Amusez-vous bien,
