My kids love going to the cinema. The crowd, the sounds, the visual experience — a promise to go to the cinema makes them get so excited they have difficulty sleeping the night before!
Luckily enough, here in Paris, the children’s cinema scene is huge, between the Forum des Images and several yearly children’s film festivals. Cinema is so much a part of the culture over here that the city organises screenings for school classes at least once a semester.
A great cinema event here on a Sunday is the monthly ‘Pochette Surprise’ event at the Balzac, an art house cinema off the Champs Elysees. On show are a series of short classic films, some of them over 100 years old, mixed in with some classic Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and some old-school Tex Avery animation shorts. Every short is silent and the whole programme is accompanied by a musician, so even if you are completely anglophone, you will not miss out on anything… and to make it even better everyone gets a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!
Whoever is behind this show is a complete and total genius (and clearly on major drugs!) Yo Gabba Gabba is the most bizarre and entertaining thing that I have seen on TV in a long long time. I am hooked! I know most have you have probably seen the show at some point but have you ever sat down to really watch it??? It’s bananas!!! I love the songs — all of which sound like they are made up as they go along, the strange characters, and the total weirdness of it. The show also has great guest appearances –- like Jack Black, MGMT, and Biz Markie and they have a recurring segment that features excellent dance moves (which by the way serve as my cardio routine). Oh yeah, my kids really like it too. Guess that’s important to note.
I think children’s television can be beautiful and inspiring — it’s just that sadly most of it isn’t. As with most children (I’m guessing /hoping), my 3-year-old loves ‘The Box’. I try to limit viewing but I have to admit it can sometimes come in handy to have him be still for half an hour whilst the younger one needs some attention. So if we must, then lets at least find something we both can love — and boy oh boy have we struck gold!
A bit of background …. my sister-in-law asked for some present ideas for my son, and so I suggested a German DVD so he didn’t just hear English stuff. She bought me Der Maulwurf und seine Abenteuer als Gaertner (The Mole and his Adventure as a Gardener). As she handed over the present she apologised profusely saying that when she bought it she had totally forgotten that there was actually no speaking in the short films and that the title was the only German in it. But, she was sure we would love it. And we do!
The Little Mole films are the work of Czech animator Zdenek Miler, who made 50 of these 5-minute films in the ’60s and ’70s. For my husband the films are nostalgic and remind him of growing up, and for me they are wonderful pieces of art — the illustration is imaginative and beautiful (with a subtle but fantastic nod to the psychedelic fashions of the time), and the Mole is by far my favourite cartoon character (his squeal and laugh are adorable). Miler decided not to include voices in the animations so they would be universally enjoyed (clever man!), so his daughter recorded the sounds of the Mole.
See for yourself on YouTube. And if you want to buy a DVD there are many to choose from available from Amazon.de (and they ship internationally).
I love this man. I love his hair. I love his music. My husband should seriously watch his back.
Dan Zanes sings quintessential, feel good, “family” music — each song more unique and catchy than the next. He used to be the front man for a band called the Del Fuegos and what I love is that his music is diverse, international and really appeals to parents and kids alike. My girls are obsessed with him.
While I had my requisite Wiggles phase, just like the rest of the world, I just got so tired of the silly songs and the turtlenecks and that ridiculous “Fruit Salad” song. Dan Zanes songs prove that kid-friendly music doesn’t have to be about gumdrops and unicorns. We sing along to him in the car all the time…. even when it’s not in the CD player (scary!). We also love watching the DVD which is basically the band, playing their instruments and having a good time. I suggest starting with his first DVD of songs if you are interested in hearing more. I don’t know what it is about this guy, might just be the hair, but I love that he has my girls singing when they watch him.
I think that film addiction must be genetic — my kids love movies as much as I do. We have started a tradition of Friday Family Film Night – to celebrate the end of the week – complete with popcorn and a glass of juice.
Now the challenge is finding movies that a 2-year-old and a 30-something-year-old will both enjoy. The greatest success we have had was the Japanese Kids Animated Classic My Neighbour Totoro, a lovely story of two sisters who move to an old country house with their dad while their mum is in hospital. In the countryside the girls encounter friendly spirits, namely the Totoros, the Keeper of the Forests. ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and won him international acclaim all over the world.
The animation and designs are stunning and the Totoro character is just enchanting. I could definitely watch this movie again and again. And if I can, you can bet that my kids can too! They are addicted!
I would love to hear if you have any other suggestions for great family movies. Happy Friday!
When I flew to London with my three-year-old twins I was in a complete and total panic. For weeks I would lie awake at night picturing nothing but six hours of high pitched screams and death stares. When I asked for advice on how to cope, one friend suggested that I flood the first class cabin with water, freeze it, and hire the escapades to perform. Another friend simply said “M&M’s, Sticker books and Benadryl.”
Like any rational parent with the will to live, I have no shame in busting out the DVD player… so when they grew tired of the doodle pads and pulling apart everything within reach I broke it out and fanned a selection of their most prized Nickelodian shows (cue the sound of angels singing). What made the DVD even more of a hit were the Califone headphones that a friend told us about. Unlike other cumbersome headsets, Califone headphones are made for smaller heads and they fit nice and snug. Choose from a crowd pleasing panda, tiger or bear. The earphones put a smile on the skeptical faces of my surrounding passengers who, like me, were thankful for a peaceful, scream free flight.
There’s something about vintage children’s music that is so refreshing. Perhaps it’s the innocence of the songs or the slightly quirky melodies, or even the charming old accents of the artists who sang them. Or maybe, more simply, it’s just nice to get a break from ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ and ‘Old Macdonald’.
We have the Vintage Children’s Favourites CD in our car right now and it is so much fun to listen to and sing along. The songs date from the ’20s to the ’50s, and while some of them I recognized, many of them were new to me. But I have to admit that after only a few days I was singing along to all of them.
Like Emilie mentioned, I’m totally into the retro-revival these days!
Sometimes I get fed up of living in the centre of a big city.
The traffic, the pollution the lack of green space, and space in general seems so much more oppressing in the summer time. But then I get reminded of the big advantages of city life: the huge range of cultural events right at my fingertips. From the 2nd to the 14th of July the Paris Film Festival is on and part of the festival is a great children’s program.
This year the focus is on my favourite pet subject, animation. Lots of things are on offer: workshops, lectures and, of course film screenings. The first public screening in France of the new Pixar 3D extravaganza “Up” is on offer, as are modern day classics like Wallace and Gromit and Disney’s 1963 “The Swords in the Stone”. The films are for kids aged 3 and up, and there are so many choices that it should satisfy all tastes. You can check out the program here.
Sam Sam is my son’s favourite cartoon these days. It’s shown on satellite TV here in Italy but it’s originally a French comic book series illustrated by Serge Bloch.
Sam Sam is a 6-year-old superhero who lives a “normal” life with his SamParents, and his friends. They do what any normal child does — they play, go to parties and have little adventures. These adventures are just a tad more exciting because Sam Sam lives on a strange planet and instead of a bicycle he rides a tiny flying saucer.
Sam Sam tries really hard to behave well because he is a “good” superhero in training. The stories are never violent and they tend to pass on a good message of loyalty, friendship and courage. Even the “bad guys” are totally funny, like the Bedwetters who are strange little yellow creatures armed with water guns.
In addition the colours and the images are nice and modern, so I actually don’t mind watching it too!
How long do you spend on your computer each day? How many times have you told your children to “just wait one minute, I have to check/send/read something”? Well, it has happened to me many, many (probably too many) times. One of the (visible) obvious results is that my children both have developed a strong attraction to computers from a very early age. But given that they (the computers!) are among my most treasured possessions, they (the children!) were never allowed to touch them. This was until we got some software by Giggles.
Giggles has developed a few interactive computer games for babies from 6 to 36 months. They are easy to install and, once you launch one, your hard drives are perfectly safe because the game blocks the rest of the computer off so it doesn’t matter what key the baby presses –no damage can be done!
Through these games children learn that each time they press a key something happens and they are also introduced to mouse control. We have the ABCs and 123s discs and they have proved to be great for both my children. The younger one, nearly 18 months, just taps casually and looks in awe at what happens on the screen –just content to be allowed to play with the laptop. The older one, now 4 years old, can still enjoy it because he is now learning the alphabet and so he has a chance at practising. Needless to say he also thinks it’s cool to use the computer, and you will be amazed at how quickly they will master the mouse or the touch-pad.
I am happy with them playing because the discs are in English and therefore give them a bit more exposure to what still remains a foreign language….. Oh and they keep quiet!
Taking young kids to the cinema can be risky business. No matter how great the film is, it will probably end up being too long to keep your kids’ attention, they’ll likely spill the popcorn, talk too much and too loudly, and need several trips to the toilet. (Can you tell I’ve learned the hard way?)
Last weekend, however, we risked it all and took the boys to see the Under the Sea 3D film at London’s BFI IMAX theatre, and it was a huge, huge hit!
You put the funny glasses on (which my kids loved), take a seat in front of the UK’s largest cinema screen (taller than 5 double decker buses!), and spend roughly 45 minutes feeling like you’re swimming under the sea, literally face-to-face with exotic sea creatures! My kids thought it was the coolest thing they’ve ever seen!
The IMAX films are short, they’re 3D, and they’re educational. Perfect for kids! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before now…
After being completely refurbished, the Forum des Images finally reopened its doors a couple of months ago. Founded about 20 years ago, the Forum is Paris’ premier film library and cultural cinema venue.
The new Forum is fantastic, and a stark contrast to the ugly Forum des Halles shopping centre that houses it. (The Forum des Halles is now also up for a major refurbishment, so hopefully what is known as the eyesore of Paris, will finally disappear). It does mean that the Forum des Images is right in the centre of Paris and very easily accessible.
One of the major attractions are the children’s film screenings. There are screenings every weekend and on Wednesdays. At the moment, during mid-term holidays, there is a very popular children’s film festival on. Films start from 18 months onwards. The choice varies from classic art school films to old classic Disney films.
They also have great workshops for kids, mostly from 3 onwards, teaching kids about the basics of film making and animation. As both my husband and I work in animation we have been dragging our 3-year-old to lots of workshops and she has been absolutely loving it!
All the workshops and films are in French, though a lot of the films for the little ones are not dialogue-based so can be enjoyed by non-French speakers too!
I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!! Oliver Jeffers’ second children’s book (and my absolute favorite of his), ‘Lost and Found‘, has been adapted into a short animated film!! Studio AKA has taken this award-winning book and turned it into what will surely be 25 minutes of brilliance!
If you’re lucky enough to be in the UK at Christmas time, it will be shown on Channel 4 at 2.30pm on Christmas Eve, and again at 12.30pm on Boxing Day. For everyone not in the UK or Ireland (which sadly includes me since I’m away on holiday!), you’ll have to wait a bit longer!
OK, not only did I spend a couple of days in Paris with my girlfriends and without children (I know, we’ve told you about this already so I won’t rub it in any further), but ALSO my husband came over for my 35th birthday and treated me to a romantic evening out (in Paris), which included seeing Swan Lake in Théâtre du Châtelet, danced by the Australian National Ballet!
Hmmm… I know…
Seeing the ballet was especially nice because a few weeks ago my 3-year-old daughter started ballet lessons, and she’s has been obsessed by everything ballet ever since (we brought her the program of the show back, and she loves it)!
We have been watching her favourite DVD of the moment ‘Swan Lake by Prima Princessa‘ over and over again, so I knew the story of prince Siegfried, his lovely Odette and the nasty Baroness of Rothbart nearly by heart!
I must tell you, it is very endearing to see my little duckling in her little ballet outfit. And she takes the whole thing so very seriously, as does her teacher! Mums are not allowed to see the lesson — that would only be distracting. Also, apparently sometimes the mothers can get a little too involved (’keep those fingers out of your nose, Bella, and put your shoulders back’)! So, we have to wait patiently in the dressing room until our little ballerinas are ready for the big show, later this year…
Let’s hope it will be Swan Lake!
A couple of weeks ago I bought my children a DVD of one of my childhood favourites: Pippi Longstocking.
Who doesn’t know Pippi (full name Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraimsdaughter Longstocking), the mischievous little girl with two braids in her bright red hair (sticking out 90° from her head), whose dad is the King of Kurrekurredutt Isle and whose mum lives in heaven?
She is immensely rich (she pays for everything in gold), incredibly strong, lives by herself in a huge house (Villa Villekulla) together with her monkey Mr. Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man. She gets in all sorts of trouble and experiences great adventures with her neighbours and best friends, Tommy and Annika.
Originally Astrid Lindgren (the writer) told the stories of Pippi Longstocking to her little girl Karin, but they proved to be such a success that before long the first Pippi Longstocking book was out in print – in 1945!!!
I mainly remember Pippi from the series on television when I was a little girl in the 70’s, and those series are exactly that what my children are watching on DVD now… And they are obsessed! Especially my toddler boy loves Pippi. It is one of the few words he can say, and nowadays he’s saying Pippi! Pippi! far more often than he says Mama!
Seriously, I think he has a huge crush on her. Can you imagine… my son’s first love is Pippi Longstocking!
The original 1968 TV shows are available on Amazon (US or UK), and are a huge hit in our household. But the films (US or UK) are still a bit too exciting for my 3-year old daughter…
As a hardened Cinemaphile (does that word exist?) I am really looking forward to the annual Paris Cinema Festival which starts on the 1st of July. Within that framework there is a great little mini film festival going on, just for kids.
There will be screenings of new films like Kung Fu Panda, screening of films for little kids from the age of 3 onwards, and cinema workshops for older kids. The workshops look like so much fun — the kids get to remix the sound for a whole film and other cool things like that (the workshops are from 7 years onward).
Also on the programme are screenings of classic films like the Jungle Book, which I am esp. excited to see as it is the first film I remember ever seeing in a cinema! I can’t wait to take my daughter to see it — what a trip down memory lane. After all you can’t beat seeing a movie on a cinema screen as opposed to the TV….
This super cute dog was invented by Francersco Tullio-Altan in 1975 for his daughter Chicca. In Pimpa’s world (like in every child’s), all the animals, plants or objects talk like human beings. Pimpa has many adventures; she travels very far, meets new animals and sees new countries. What is nice and unique is that these adventures are always very “normal” — there is no drama at all… no bad guy, no witch, no war, no scary wolf. Pimpa is so nice that she makes new friends wherever she goes.
Her adventures were first published in 1977 with weekly stories on the “Corriere dei Piccoli”, a weekly children’s magazine, and they were immediately a big hit. She now has a monthly magazine full of stories, games and colouring inserts.
I loved her when I was a child, and my 3 year old son loves her now. It is a classic for Italian children — her adventures are now found in books, DVDs and even theatre shows.
Unfortunately nobody seems to have noticed her outside of Italy, so no translation of any sort seems to be available. Having said that, the stories are very simple so you and your children will be able to appreciate them even if your knowledge of Italian is not great. But who knows, Jip and Janneke’s stories were translated in the end…
If you haven’t yet seen the under-water documentary, Blue Planet, I can’t stress enough how much you should! It is seriously extraordinary. Both the remarkable footage and the eloquent narration by David Attenborough make this nature series truly fascinating!
This BBC documentary series, consisting of eight 50-minute programs, reveals ocean life and behavior that has never been captured before. From the depth of the ocean to the shores, covering the entire planet from pole to pole, you can watch sea creatures you didn’t even know existed… including a scary deep-sea fangtooth and a giant-mouthed gulper eel! You can also sea an Orca whale capture and kill a seal pup.
It is both fascinating and heartbreaking; I’m quite certain I cried and laughed in almost every chapter. So… too scary for kids you might think, but NO! My 3-year-old son is totally obsessed! He sits there watching so intently for as long as I leave him. It is all he talks about at the moment.
Not bad, right? It’s true educational television. And when he becomes bored with this, we can switch to the sister series, Planet Earth, for an in-depth look at life out of the water…
Sick of hitting up your local Starbucks every time it rains because you just have to get the kids out of the house? Grossed out by the commercial malls you have to trek through to get your kids to their French class? Want a place you can pop into, where you can grab a cappuccino while your kids play? Boy do I have the answer for you…
Maggie & Rose is a brilliant private members club for families here in London. Situated in Kensington, this unique haven offers families a place to relax, be entertained and be creatively inspired. The club offers workshops and classes (art, cooking, language, ballet, dance, gardening, etc.), as well as a café, a soft-play area, a cozy cinema room, a patio garden, and a large private room for parties. It is designed to be a home away from home, and that’s exactly how it feels immediately upon entering.
The owners and staff are refreshingly down-to-earth and you feel welcomed immediately. Mums can sit on cozy sofas and read the latest fashion magazine while their kids run around freely. Shoes aren’t allowed inside to protect the younger, crawling members, and the walls are all painted in cute kid-friendly images. The entire space was designed with kids in mind, but still maintains a level of cool, adult chic!
I love the idea of sending your husband and kids to the club on a Saturday, where they can grab a big bean-bag in the cinema room and watch the daily film. I’m really actually in love with the whole idea….but I’m not the only one: they’ve only been open since the fall and yet they’re almost to membership capacity. So hurry, hurry and sign your family up!
A couple of years ago our great friends from Brussels gave my daughter the DVD, The Dance Show out of the HBO’s ‘Classical Baby’ series.
A nice and thoughtful gift, we thought, but the DVD didn’t work at all! Our friends had bought it in the States and thus it was labelled ‘Region 1′, which means it works fine in North-American or in multi-region DVD players, but absolutely NOT in European ones (and this has nothing to do with us Europeans being slow, or anything)! I was determined to make our computer accept the alien DVD though…
It involved downloading an initially dodgy looking VLC media player that ended up being much less scary than I imagined it to be – and I succeeded! ‘The Dance Show’ has since become THE absolute favourite DVD in our house (after the ‘Sex and the City’ series, naturallemente).
My children LOVE the conductor (a cute little baby wearing a nappy who crawls onto the stage) and all the animated animals in the orchestra. The baby conductor introduces each short work of classical music (Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and more), on which animated dancers perform dances inspired by famous choreographers/dancers such as Martha Graham or Anna Pavlova (the Swan… sigh…).
The music, the animation, the choreography… it is all so tastefully done! It’s really a pleasure to watch or listen to, over and over again (yes, in our house too).
In the meantime another great friend gave us the rest of the Classical Baby series (The Art Show and The Music Show) which are superb as well. And I just discovered Classical Baby: The Poetry Show – I will have to check it out!
My kids love going to the cinema. The crowd, the sounds, the visual experience — a promise to go to the cinema makes them get so excited they have difficulty sleeping the night before!
Emilie in Paris
February 19th, 2010
3 comments
of songs if you are interested in hearing more. I don’t know what it is about this guy, might just be the hair, but I love that he has my girls singing when they watch him.
Sam Sam
‘ over and over again, so I knew the story of prince Siegfried, his lovely Odette and the nasty Baroness of Rothbart nearly by heart!
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), and are a huge hit in our household. But the films (
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) are still a bit too exciting for my 3-year old daughter…
, for an in-depth look at life out of the water…
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– I will have to check it out!
