This week’s theme:
Adventures on a train – The Orient Express
This week’s colouring in sheet:
Download and print this week’s colouring sheet here.
Activities for the week…
Fact of the week: The Orient Express was a luxury long-distance passenger train service created in 1883.
Activity 1:
Listen to some snippets of train songs – spot the rhythms and patterns, train sounds, clicks, clacks, choos, and ‘all aboard’s in the music that mimics the sounds of train travel: Dolly’s ‘Blue smoke’ (perfect train song!), Marrakesh Express, Jonny Cash, Locomotion, All Aboard, Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train, Orient Express.
Create the movement, rhythm, motion and action of the music with your bodies. Create these rhythm sounds with instruments or body percussion.
Try learning the dance moves to ‘The Locomotion’.
Activity 2:
The Orient Express is a high-class, luxury train with luxurious sleeping and dining carts, and people to attend to your every want, if you have enough money to travel on it!
Create a luxury train soundscape – your sounds (and accompanying actions) could include:
- The ‘click clack’ of the train on the track/The ‘whoooosh’ of the steam/The ‘choo choo’ of the train horn
- The ‘tickets please’ of the conductor/the ‘can I help?’/’let me take that for you’ of the baggage handlers, the ‘would you like ice with that?’ of the waiters.
- You could use knives and forks against plates to create the sound of the dining cart.
- Or snores to create the sound of the sleeping cart!
- Pianist in the entertainment area.
Activity 3:
The Orient Express first travelled in 1883. The Orient Express was a showcase of luxury and comfort at a time when travelling was still rough and dangerous.
Make yourself a luxuriously comfortable train seat to travel on – you’re going to need lots of padding, cushions, and with everything you need close at hand.
If we’re travelling on a luxury train with high class passengers we’d better brush up on our deportment (the way a person stands and walks), poise (grace and elegance), elocution (clear and expressive speech), good manners, and etiquette (polite behaviour). We don’t want to get kicked off the train for being rude!
Practice your deportment by seeing how far you can travel while sitting/standing up tall and balancing a book or cushion on your head. Can you make it around the room? Can you curtsy and still balance the book?
Practice moving gracefully like a ballet dancer, try to be light and elegant!
Try some elocution techniques with some tongue twisters such as this one. Can you write some tongue twisters of your own?
Practice drinking gracefully with your pinkie out.
Activity 4:
The train’s first journey was in 1883, and it travelled from Paris to Constantinople (now called Istanbul), covering 3,959 miles in 13 days!
Design your dream train journey – where would you start, end, where would you stop on the way? Draw your new journey on a map.
Activity 5:
Paris is the capital of France, and Istanbul is a major city in Turkey.
Try speaking some French (there are some basics from 3 mins in here) and Turkish words.
Try some Turkish dance moves maybe dancing to this song.
With your body, or with your finger in the air, try making some of the shapes in Parisian buildings and scenery such as the Sacre Coeur or Eiffel Tower and the shapes from Istanbul such as those at the Hagia Sophia at Sultanahmet Square.
Activity 6:
20th May, 1977 was the final Orient Express journey from Paris to Istanbul (leaving Paris and stopping at Lausanne – Simplon – Milan – Venice – Belgrade – Sofia – before arriving in Istanbul). Design your own poster to advertise its final trip.
Activity 7:
Write a poem about the train’s journey – it could be an acrostic of ORIENT EXPRESS. Think about what you might see outside, what sounds you might hear, and what you might taste or smell or feel on the train. For example:
On the train, whooshing through Europe
Rain on the windows
Interesting passengers
Eating fancy food
Nice and comfy
Turkey is our destination
etc
Activity 8:
It is said that over the years more than 1.1 million dinners have been served on the Orient Express which comes to almost 4 million courses!
The first menu on the Orient Express (on October 10, 1882) included: oysters, soup with Italian pasta, turbot with green sauce, chicken ‘à la chasseur’, fillet of beef with ‘château’ potatoes, ‘chaud-froid’ (hot cold) of game animals, lettuce, chocolate pudding, and a buffet of desserts.
Create your own luxurious menu for the Orient Express of things you’ve always wanted to eat – what fancy, expensive food and drink would you include – Caviar? A 20 tier cake? Golden champagne? Illustrate your menu so it’s fit for a queen!
Act out what it would be like to dine at such a lavish and fancy feast on board a moving train – can you keep your champagne from going bump?
Activity 9:
Aboard the train were luxury dining items, such as this specially designed silver Orient Express teapot. Design and decorate your own train-themed teapots.
Activity 10:
The Orient Express has a golden crest that acts as its logo or badge. What would be on the crest of your train? Design and draw a fancy logo.
Why not take a photo of any of the activities you’ve tried this week and share it with us? You can share it on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!