Bonjour, France! European Week made a stop in the heart of European elegance.
The children discovered the Eiffel Tower, learned the colours of the French flag and explored the country's culture, food and art — all through games, stories and creative activities. The order matters: first the image, then the story behind it. An iron tower stays a photograph until you learn it was built for an exhibition and that many Parisians wanted it pulled down; only then does it become a place with people in it.
The flag, in turn, is a quiet lesson in attention: children start to notice that knowing which colours it has is not enough — the order they are placed in matters too. It is the kind of detail that trains the eye and that, years later, makes the difference between "I saw it" and "I noticed it".
We also talked about French cuisine and French painting, two of the doors through which a country most easily enters a child's memory: taste and image.
As usual, we shared a few activities inspired by our French day, easy to repeat at home with the family — because a themed day lasts longer if it gets a sequel at the kitchen table.