Colorado French for Kids

Want to find opportunities for your children to speak French in the Denver-Boulder area?  Here's what I know of:

NEW!  Fun with French, an interactive immersion class for ages 0-5 taught entirely in French at Grandrabbit's Play! in Boulder, using games, crafts, books, songs, and movement to convey meaning (in other words, the same way you learned your first language); the teachers are moi and my friend Carol from A French American Life

Update, March 2015; Grandrabbit's Play is closing, but there is talk of opening something similar in a different location, so stay tuned

Boulder County Fun with French, my Meetup.com group that disseminates information about playdates and other French events and classes for kids

French playgroup for ages 5-10 once a month at Lafayette Public Library, featuring board games, crafts, and other interactive activities to encourage children to speak French with each other; meets the fourth Sunday of most months (check the library calendar to be sure) from 2:00-4:00

Gwyneth learning to walk in the courtyard at Parenting Place

Parenting Place, a nonprofit parenting resource center in downtown Boulder, offering a drop-in unfacilitated French playgroup on Monday mornings, 10:00-11:30 am, $3 suggested donation (or Parenting Place membership), French fluency recommended (playgroups in other languages also available!)

***update: As of fall 2013, Parenting Place is closed.  No more playgroups.  I'm so disappointed!

Parenting Place French playgroup

Alliance Francaise of Denver, a nonprofit organization for the promotion of French, with classes taught by native speakers for children and adults (designed for those learning French as a second language, not for those who already speak it at home); they also offer occasional parents' night out events for kids and storytimes in French at the Denver Children's Museum

Parenting Place

The Language of Food, French cooking classes for children and summer day camps in Boulder; the owner will also be opening a French immersion preschool in Boulder in Fall 2015

Parenting Place

French with Veronique (classes for ages 0-5, held Wednesday mornings at WOW! Children's Museum in Lafayette, taught by a native French speaker who is not a trained teacher); Griffin attended several sessions of this as a two- and three-year-old; it's better suited to kids who haven't been learning French at home already

Summer French camp at Boulder Country Day School (three hours/day for five days, ages ~5-10, taught by BCDS's French teacher); Griffin attended this in 2013 and I was very impressed with the variety of activities--fun but educational, including reading and writing practice

Griffin, Gwyneth, and Grammy playing pétanque on vacation in France

Summer French culture class through Boulder Valley School District Lifelong Learning program (three hours/day for five days, ages 7-12, taught by a native French speaker who is not a trained teacher); Griffin attended this in 2014 and I was underwhelmed, especially considering the cost of the class; they met at a table in a school hallway, played pétanque every day, learned isolated vocabulary words, and had a lot of unstructured time in English on the playground

Summer Immersion French Camp at Dawson School (a private school in Lafayette), one week in summer 2015, includes lunch and swimming, 8:30-4:00; I don't know anyone who has attended this or how established it is

Summer French Camp at Colorado International School (a private school in Denver), a two-week-long day camp for preK-4th grade (unlike the other camps listed here, which start at around age 6); last year, the program director explained to a friend that the camp isn't actually immersion, because they get so many students who don't know French (don't get me started on this idea--a good teacher can teach a language without needing to speak English to do so)

Mamans and Papas and Me, a meetup.com group based in Lone Tree, offering a weekly playdate with arts and crafts, ages 0-4, French fluency not required

And don't forget about the free library French storytimes in Lafayette, Louisville, and Boulder!