Carnival in Venice: Make a Mask, Meet the World

Small children can learn about the world in English, not just English itself — teachers call it CLIL, I call it travelling from the living room. This lesson flies to Venice for carnival.

First stop: where are we?

Look at pictures of Venice together and let the surprise do the work: “Look! No cars! In Venice, people travel by boat.” Words for the day: city, water, boat, gondola, mask, carnival.

If you have a globe or a map, find Italy together — small fingers love tracing the boot.

Make a masquerade mask

1. Cut a paper plate in half.
2. Cut two eye holes (a grown-up job for little ones; children 5+ can draw the circles for you to cut).
3. Decorate! Markers, paint, glitter, feathers — Venetian masks are gloriously over the top, so there is no such thing as too much.

While you decorate, feed in the colour words: “Gold! More gold. A red feather. Beautiful!”

The grand parade

Masks on. March around the house to music, greeting each other grandly: “Good evening!” — “Good evening!” Bows and curtsies strongly encouraged. This is where the English gets used, and the giggles arrive.

Extra: carnival cookies

If you like baking, make simple mask-shaped cookies together and decorate them — the same vocabulary, one more time, with sprinkles: mix, roll, cut, decorate, eat!

At home: whenever a place appears in a book or on TV, say its name in English and ask “boat, car, or plane?” — a tiny geography game that keeps the world in your child’s English.