I just watched the Whistlefritz Spanish for Kids DVD – Las estaciones. It is so well done! I am going to explain why I liked it, in detail, but I understand that some of you want just the basics and to know if the product is a good investment. The DVD is intended to introduce [...]
Los esqueletos, The Skeletons, is a great song for kids learning Spanish. It fits in well if you are doing anything related to El día de los muertos or Halloween, but it is also just a fun song to sing and teaches lots of language. When the clock strikes the different hours, skeletons come out [...]
Butiá is a website created by the record label Papagayo Azul to promote children’s music in Uruguay, Latin American and the Caribbean. The site has a tremendous variety of quality children’s music in Spanish and Portuguese. You can read about the artists (in Spanish), listen to music and buy albums or individual songs. I love [...]
Todos los patitos is a children’s song in Spanish that tells the story of a family of ducks that goes swimming. As with all traditional songs, there are many variations. In some versions, the verb for to swim is nadar and in others it is bañar. Both are common equivalents for to swim. In the [...]
At the end of my last post, I mentioned a video of a clapping game with cups called Escatumbararibê. The game is from Brazil and the song has nonsense words. The video I recommended is a version of Escatumbararibê combined with a traditional juego de manos, a clapping game, called Los hermanos de Juan. A [...]
This catchy song and video teach the Spanish numbers 1-10. The video shows the numbers as kids hear and sing them, so they are associating the words with the written numerals. Singing is also great Spanish pronunciation practice. This song is mostly numbers, but I like it because there is other language too. The numbers [...]
Children learning Spanish will identify with Juan, the little boy in this song who protests that it is too early to get up for school. Arriba, Juan is a traditional song in the form of a conversation between Juan and his mother. It is fun to have different people or groups sing the two voices. [...]
There are several Spanish versions of London Bridge, the British children’s song. In Spanish it is called Este puente va a caer or Este puente se cayó. The tune of all the versions is the same, and the meaning is similar, with slight variations. The familiar tune and ideas make it easier to teach the [...]
Where did the summer go? Lots of us are going to have new Spanish learners in just a few weeks, and some of you have already started classes. Whether you are a teacher with new students or a parent who is teaching Spanish at home, simple songs are one of the easiest ways for children [...]
Escucha, hermano, canción, alegre, nuevo, día, ven, canta, sol, vive, estrellas: these words could come from any picture book or a basic vocabulary list, but they are the words in a classic Spanish song. Miguel Ríos recorded Himno a la alegría in 1969. It became popular all over the Spanish-speaking world and has since been [...]
This is a song with pictures, perfect for the very littlest children learning Spanish. Luna has the words luna (moon), sol (sun), caracol (snail), girasol (sunflower), ruiseñor (nightingale) and corazón (heart). The idea of labeling common objects to a familiar tune is one that you can easily adapt and use with your own pictures. The [...]
This song about summer is a good example of authentic language that can be used effectively with Spanish language learners. It is from Músicaeduca and they have lots of other resources to use with children of a variety of ages and language levels. Many thanks to them for permission to embed the video! The simple [...]
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