I love Letris and Words with Friends, but I have to admit that coloring is one of my favorite things to do on the iPad. It seems like magic! This free kid’s iPad app from OnlineFreeSpanish combines the wonder of coloring with your finger and native-speaker Spanish audio to teach the letters, letter sounds and vocabulary in Spanish. This app is free in the iTunes store. Spanish Alphabet Coloring has a page with a picture [...]
These Spanish songs for kids from Spanish Together are all about fall. Children learn about the change of seasons in school, and in some places they see the leaves change color as the days get colder. Relating language to what they are learning and to their lives gives it more context and makes it “real.” All of these songs are available to download individually or as part of the CD Jump Into Spanish. There [...]
Congratulations to Laura Kelly and Christie Esparza (numbers 9 and 18), the two winners of this giveaway! Thank you to everyone for the advice you shared for parents learning Spanish with their children. There are lots of great suggestions. And as always, thanks for reading and participating on Spanish Playground! We are giving away two copies of 52 Weeks of Family Spanish to Spanish Playground readers. To be eligible to win, leave a comment here [...]
We all love stories and storytelling is a wonderful way to teach a language. Conversa Books makes Spanish language materials for students from kindergarten to 8th grade based on TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling). These books give teachers an easy way to introduce this teaching method into their classrooms. The lessons also incorporate games, music and culture. These books can be used to supplement any curriculum or as the basis for an entire [...]
Proble+ (pronounced proble-mas) are engaging online activities that combine Spanish reading comprehension and basic math skills from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte of Spain. These are perfect for Spanish language learners because the questions and activities are presented in a context that continually reinforces meaning. There are also graphics to give visual support to the words and printable follow-up activities. I think these are great activities for children learning Spanish! You will find [...]
These two sets of printable Spanish cards have pictures of words that rhyme. There are thirty pairs, sixty words in all. The cards can be used in lots of different ways. I made them without text for a group of preschoolers and added text for a mixed age group. You can download and print both sets using the links below. Rhyming is an important pre-literacy skill and an ability that should be developed in children [...]
We are so excited to be co-hosting the first annual Hispanic Heritage Month Blog Hop Fiesta! Hispanic Heritage Month is going on now through October 15, so join us as we celebrate the rich cultural heritage given to our country by generations of Hispanics. The term Hispanic or Latino, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. Link up [...]
52 Weeks of Family Spanish is a little book with a big goal – to help families speak the language, one weekly lesson at a time. Author Eileen McAree took up learning Spanish with her four children. Based on her experiences, she wrote a book that is more than Spanish for children; it offers manageable Spanish lessons for families. 52 Weeks of Family Spanish is available on Amazon in print or for the Kindle. These [...]
Aula Editores is a Chilean company that publishes a series of magazines for teachers: Aula Creativa, Aula Infantil and Aula Herramientas. The magazines are not available in print in the U.S., but the publisher does make many printable Spanish materials available to download. Aula Infantil The first magazine, Aula Infantil is for teachers and parents of preschoolers. The printable Spanish material supports the articles and the activities in the magazine, so it is labeled by [...]
Speak Spanish with your child by talking about this photograph of two boys playing in a leaf pile. The questions that follow, like all the Learn Spanish with Pictures activities, are ordered to help children master the vocabulary and gain confidence with the language. Start with Describe the photo (1) and be sure to point to the objects in the picture as you talk about them. Use gestures, facial expressions and actions to help your [...]
This Spanish song for children is about the arrival of fall, and children learn it in many preschools in Latin America and Spain. It is sometimes recited as a rhyme instead of sung and, like many traditional songs, there are several versions. All of the variations of the song include the colors brown and yellow, the leaves, and most versions include the wind. There are lots of ways to reinforce the words with actions. You [...]
Poems for children in Spanish teach language and culture through rhythm, rhyme and images. Simple structures and familiar vocabulary make these three poems easy to use with language learners. The online magazine, Cuatrogatos, is dedicated to children’s literature in Spanish. It is based in Miami and is an excellent resource for poetry to use with kids. The archives have material going back to 2000. Both Edgar Allan García of Ecuador and Sergio Andricaín of Cuba [...]