Creativity 521 #43 - "Let it go" {DIY lift-the-flap lyrics poster}

Let it go, let it go, can't hold it back anymore...

I am not kidding when I say I have heard this song 3187 times and I still hear it 29 times a day. At least. For some reason, we watched Frozen last year but the fever is at an all time high recently. Yes, my girls are totally in love and smitten with this Disney animated film. I'm not sure if it was a wise move to purchase the DVD when it was released, but we did and it now serves excellently as a reward for good behaviour.

Before I go on, I have to admit that I love the show too. Every bit of it, from the Scandinavian setting, the effects, the cast, the plot to the values and the humour. In particular, I love how it tells about the love between the two sisters, Elsa and Anna, and how an act of true love can have the power to melt ice and mend hearts. It teaches us about family ties, about perseverance, about sacrifice, about the power of love and of course, about how you shouldn't trust boys that you've met only for a day.

When we talked about the show, I came to realise that Angel didn't fully understand the story, for instance on why Elsa had to be kept in her room, why Elsa hurt Anna, why Anna didn't die, why Prince Hans turned evil and so on. So, we have been chatting about Frozen under the blankets at night and subtly, I try to instill those important values of love and family in her.

Back to my point, yes, that song. That chart-topping, Oscar-winning Best Original Song with over 168 million views on YouTube. It's amazing how all Angel's classmates can sing it and how we keep hearing it on the radio, in the MRT and in the lifts. Well, that is because the whole world, or my whole world, is singing it.

There was one day when I got so annoyed listening to it for the umpteenth time that I told Angel to stop singing it and change to another song, only to regret it after when I saw her dismayed look. Since then, I have been trying to have as much patience as I can and always listen to her earnestly when she showcases her vocals. It was when I realised she was singing many of the words wrongly that an idea popped to my mind.

Well, as the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. And join them I did. We decided to make a "Let it go" DIY lift-the-flap lyrics poster and combine singing with fun learning, reading and spelling.

What we used:

1) Drawing block
2) Lyrics from "Let it go"
3) Pictures from Frozen (Printed on matt photo paper)
4) Matching pictures of selected words (Printed on matt photo paper)
5) Crayons
6) Scissors
7) Glue

Firstly, I went through the lyrics of the song, highlighting words that I think would be great to teach the four-year-old Angel. You can choose easier words for younger kids or harder, and more, words for the older ones. I achieved a total of 28 words, including snow, mountain, footprint, wind, storm, see, light, day, good, girl, small, door, queen, cold, care, time and so on.

Next, I used different coloured crayons to write out the lyrics line by line on the drawing paper. I wanted it to be colourful, easy to read and yet handwritten instead of printed so as to have a more sincere and personal feel. Plus, it's not often that she gets to see so much of Mummy's handwriting and I want her to know how handwritten alphabets can vary.


After that, I cut out the pictures neatly, folded a flap on top of each picture and glued them down to the matching words so as to form flaps as shown.

When cutting, trim the picture to the correct size and when sticking, make sure that the flap covers the entire word but can be opened up to reveal it completely. I chose to use photo paper because they are thicker than plain paper and thus the flaps will be more sturdy.

To jazz up the poster and make it into something more Frozen, I pasted on pictures of the cast. I specially went to search for more pictures of the two sisters having fun as kids or holding hands because they just seemed so befitting for my girls.

As much as I could, I also used pictures from Frozen for the matching words, for instance the word 'queen' had a picture of Elsa wearing the crown, the word 'girl' showed a picture of Elsa as a child, the word 'cry' had Elsa sobbing on the ice and the word 'see' was done using a picture of Elsa's beautiful blue eye, much to Angel's delight.

Lastly, since I used up four pieces of drawing paper, I used sticky tape to secure them at the back so that they combine to form a large, beautiful handmade poster.

Voila! Of course, Angel requested for it to be displayed in her room and there, her wall seems so much brighter and vibrant now! The good thing is this poster actually makes her happy to go to bed and even take her afternoon naps on her own.

So nowadays, we don't just sing the song but we learn the words as we go along and have fun lifting the flaps. I've a good mind to let her learn to spell and also teach her these words in Chinese as we progress. Good idea? No?

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN

You know, this girl not only loves to sing the songs, she also loves to dress up as Queen Elsa, loves to pretend she has powers and loves to do rhythmic knocking on every surface she sees. Once, I caught her re-enacting a whole scene by herself, knocking on my bedroom door singing "Do you wanna build a snowman?", then she replied to herself "Go away, Anna", walked away with a forlorn look and mournful voice saying "Okay, bye", before she sat down in a corner, buried her face in her arms and tried to sob. No joke. I would have given her an Oscar award.

Anyway, I really don't wish to dampen her enthusiasm in this matter so besides doing the lyrics poster for her, we also let her dress up as the queen.

Meet Queen Elsa-Angel.

Well, the crown looks a little too childish for the cool queen but it was the best we could find. She was in love with her shiny blue cape and her sideways plaits. As for the *cough* orb and sceptre, well, we tried.

Was she happy? Well, ecstatic is the word. In fact, she wore this the whole evening, even when we went out for supper late at night.

Wait? Something, or someone, seems to be missing?

Why, of course, the little one wanted to be part of the action too. At her petite size and height, she was best suited to play the part of Olaf but hey, we wouldn't bear to separate this pair of loving sisters, right?

So here she is, Princess Anna-Ariel. Don't be surprised, but she can hum to the tune of "Let it go" pretty well. It is that catchy and addictive, even for a 15-month-old.

SISTERS WE'LL ALWAYS BE

This last picture of Angel holding onto Ariel's hand was my favourite of all. I'm guessing I wouldn't love Frozen half as much if it didn't talk about sisterly love but the fact that it did, I think I am willing to let these girls carry on their infatuation for a while.

Now tell me, are your kids simply in love with Frozen too?

******

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