Join the children and Leo the dog for a festive winter adventure as they prepare to spend Christmas with Mamie and Papi in France. From choosing warm clothes and packing their wellington boots to travelling across the Channel, enjoying a French breakfast and making a traditional bûche de Noël, Winter – L’Hiver turns a Christmas journey into a fun bilingual learning experience.
 
The story begins on a cold, snowy winter’s day. The children choose warm clothes for their trip and prepare to travel to France. But how will they get there — by boat, aeroplane, train or car? Their journey eventually takes them through the Eurotunnel before they arrive at Mamie and Papi’s house.
Christmas Eve is nearly here, so there is plenty to do. After enjoying a French breakfast, the children go shopping with Mamie to find the ingredients for a traditional bûche de Noël. They make their Christmas cake before heading to bed and waiting excitedly for le Père Noël. By morning, the presents have arrived — and Leo is ready to join in the celebrations too!
 
The story provides a fun context for developing French vocabulary around winter, Christmas, travel, clothing and food. Children learn useful words including le chien (dog), la fille (girl), le garçon (boy), l’avion (aeroplane), le bateau(boat), le train, la voiture (car), le cadeau (present) and la bûche de Noël.
A second vocabulary section introduces winter clothing and baking ingredients, including le chocolat (chocolate), l’œuf(egg), la framboise (raspberry), la crème (cream), la farine (flour), le sucre (sugar), l’écharpe (scarf), le bonnet (hat) and les bottes en caoutchouc (wellington boots).
 
The bilingual Winter Song / C’est l’hiver ! reinforces familiar language through music and repetition, with children singing about winter weather, Christmas, travelling to France, Mamie and Papi, presents and la bûche de Noël.
 
But Winter – L’Hiver is much more than a vocabulary workbook. Children also discover Leo’s unusual winter sports, including snowball fighting, snow kayaking, snowshoe racing, ski jöring and snow snorkelling. The Dive in Deeper section then encourages them to think about Christmas traditions, the seasons and celebrations around the world.
 
Inside the workbook:
📖 The complete Winter / L’Hiver story in English and French
❄️ French vocabulary linked to winter, Christmas, travel, clothing and food
🚗 Learn different ways to travel, including car, train, boat and aeroplane
🎁 Learn useful story vocabulary including present, Nativity scene, boy, girl, dog and bûche de Noël
🧣 Practise winter clothing including scarf, hat and wellington boots
🍫 Learn baking ingredients including chocolate, eggs, raspberries, cream, flour and sugar
🎵 The bilingual Winter Song / C’est l’hiver !, reinforcing new vocabulary through music and repetition
✏️ 10 worksheets developing vocabulary, recognition, reading, writing and sentence building
🧩 Let’s Go!, Challenging and Tricky! activities offering different levels of challenge
🥐 Breakfast! — explore a French breakfast
🛍️ Christmas ingredients — recognise and practise the vocabulary needed to make la bûche de Noël
🎄 Decorate the Tree! — a festive Christmas activity
🎨 A colouring activity using scenes and characters from the story
⛄ Build a Snowman — use French vocabulary and a dice to complete your snowman
🗺️ The Journey — follow different routes to France and practise transport vocabulary
🎶 Song Lyrics — complete missing French words from the Winter song
🔎 A festive word search using vocabulary from the module
🐭 Practise positional language including between, behind, in front of, next to and above
💬 What Are They Doing? — match French sentences with scenes from the story
🐕 Discover Leo’s unusual winter sports, from snow kayaking and snowshoe racing to ski jöring and snow snorkelling
🎲 A hands-on Winter Project, where children create and play their own board game based on the Winter story
💭 Dive in Deeper / Plonge plus profondément ! — explore Christmas Eve traditions, the seasons, celebrations around the world and French pronunciation
👩‍🏫 A suggested 7-week lesson plan, bringing together the story, song, vocabulary, worksheets and project
📈 A progress card to help track learning throughout the module
 
The workbook is designed to be used alongside the Les Puces online videos and resources, allowing children to hear spoken French, follow the story, practise the Winter song and reinforce their learning through worksheets, games and practical activities.
 
A complete Les Puces bilingual learning journey combining French, storytelling, winter, Christmas, travel, food, music, games and creativity — helping children build their French naturally while sharing in a festive journey to France. ❄️🎄🇫🇷