Beginners birthday celebration activities

Birthday celebrations for beginners

Here is a simple beginners’” birthday celebration lesson”in French and Spanish!

Either download pictures of French/Spanish birthday cards or show the children real French birthday cards. Discuss in English similarities and any differences with our own birthday cards.

The activities below involve numbers 0-11 , a birthday greeting and how to ask and answer age 

Numbers pass the parcel 

Play  pass the parcel/sack as a circle activity to revise numbers 0-11.In the sack there should be number cards from 0-11  

Play French/Spanish birthday music just like the two suggested clips below.

Inside the sack are number cards from 0-11.When the music stops ask the child who has the bag to pick out a number card and show the class. Can the class say the number in French?

Play a second game and this time can the child who picks out the number card – conceal it and can the class guess the number on the card? You could ask the class to sing along with the “happy birthday” phrase from the birthday sound clip too 

Blowing out the candles 

Teach the children the rhyme in French or Spanish below for counting candles –start with all the class holding up their closed fists ,then children should hold up a new finger for each additional candle from 1-10 ,and when you reach eleven,they should blow out all the candles and wave both hands up in the air!

Spanish

Contad las velas

1,2,3

Contad las velas

4,5,

Contad las velas

6,7,8

Contad las velas

9,10

Y

11!

French

Comptez les bougies

1,2,3

Comptez les bougies

4,5,

Comptez les bougies

6,7,8

Comptez les bougies

9,10

Y

11

• Pass round a box with candles inside. 
• Encourage the children to say the counting rhyme “Comptez les bougies 1,2,3” /contad las velas  with you .
• At the end of the rhyme , take out a certain number of candles and show them in your hand .
• Can the children remember the number in French or Spanish for the quantity they can see. 
• Check with them by blu-tacking the candles to the top of the box as it was a pretend cake .Were they correct? 
• Play the game again.

What age are you? 

• Ask the children which number in French/Spanish would be the right number to give for their current age. 
• Ask children to put up hand if they are 7 and to put up hand if they are 8 for example.

Age packages

• Teach the children in the target language the phrases for “How old are you? and “I  am …. years old”.

• Ask the children to work out how many syllables there are in the question and to stand like a wrapped up present as they start their question phrased and the to break out of the wrapping syllable by syllable until they have said the whole question . 
• Repeat several times and watch good examples of performance .
• Repeat with the response to the question in a similar way.

Circle party game 

(Circles within circles)

• Stand the children in a circle and go round and number the children alternately 1 and 2.
• All the number 1 children must ask the question of the number 2 children “how old are you?” in the target language and all the number 2 children must respond truthfully. 
• Swap over and repeat the activity
• Now make an inner and outer circle of number one children and number two children. It’s speed birthday greetings! 
• Number one circle  must ask the child opposite them in umber two circle their age and say happy birthday and then the number one circle one move one step to their left so they have a new partner. After five goes swap roles so number two circle children are asking the questions etc

A musical game

• All children to stand in a circle and sing with the teacher “J’ai 7 ans” to the tune of frère jacques”. 
• When the music stops children who are 7 sit down.
• Sing again and this time change the age from 7 to 8.
• This time all the children who are 8 sit down