Children’s Activity Parties:Bastille Day

July 7, 2010 by erica
Filed under Family, Featured Posts, TGF Features, children's activity parties

Photo - Flickr by musicpb

Bastille Day is the French national holiday which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It celebrates the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789, which the French see as a symbol of the creation of their modern nation. That’s the history out of the way, now let’s have some fun.

Food and drink with a French theme is easy. I’d suggest quiche, croissants and French bread with some grape juice in lieu of wine. Adults (and more adventurous children) might also appreciate brie and pâté. For a morning party, you could try a French breakfast with hot chocolate (or coffee for adults) in bowls with bread to dip in.

When I think of France, I think of it through the eyes of the great French artists. Try picking out some French pictures from art books and talking about them. Some good art books for children include The Art Book for Children or Usbourne’s The Children’s Book of Art. If like me you have a large collection of art postcards, see if the children can work out which are by the same artists – you’ll find that they soon get their eye in and can pick out the visual styles quite accurately. Artistic older children could even try painting their own ‘Monets’.

On a sunny day, you can get outside and play a version of Boules or Petanque. For this you just need one small ball and a number of similar sized larger balls, ideally of different colours. Start by picking a team to throw the smaller ball, then get each team to throw their larger balls in turn and the winning team is the one that has a ball closest to the original small ball.

A fun indoor game is making a edible replica of the Eiffel Tower. A version (very loosely) based on the famous landmark can be made with breadsticks, cream cheese and crackers. If you want something sweeter, but potentially more visually accurate, try wafer biscuits with butter icing. You can easily find a picture online or in a book to copy. Obviously, once you’ve finished the results can be eaten.