This is a popular Spanish language song and game based on opposites. Kids play it in lots of Latin American countries and is a great way to learn and practice Spanish vocabulary. The language is simple, but getting the patterns right is not that easy! In my experience, kids are better at this game than [...]
The songs from two of my favorite CDs for teaching Spanish to children are now available on iTunes. We Love Spanish and Sing, Move and Dance in Spanish, both from Spanish Together, are wonderful collections that teach Spanish to kids through great music. You can read a detailed review of another Spanish Together CD Hands on [...]
Me gusta contar (I like to count) is a Spanish counting song. I like this song because it teaches kids to count by tens. It is an easy way for them to become familiar with the numbers and once they know the tens, the numbers one to one hundred are simple. This song is easily [...]
This song teaches the days of the week in Spanish. It is from Los pimpollos, an educational television program from Peru. There is an official YouTube channel where you can hear lots of educational songs from Los pimpollos. As this song says, the days of the week give our lives order. Learning the days of [...]
Hand clapping games are a good way to engage children actively with the Spanish language. Por aquí pasó un caballo is a traditional hand clapping game that begins with a simple rhyme and ends with counting to 16. Estaba la Catalina is a song and hand clapping game that tells the story of a woman [...]
My kids played lots of different hand clapping games in Spanish and English. There are many juegos de manos (also called juegos de palmas, or juegos de palmadas) in Spanish, and they have fun songs and actions. Also, in Spanish it is common to play these games in groups, not just in pairs. It takes [...]
This is fun and effective song for teaching Spanish to children. The tune and the actions make it fun. The actions and the association of related words make it a great learning tool. There is enough repetition that kids quickly learn the chorus and also enough variety to make the song interesting. Arriba, abajo is [...]
This game, Pelota de ping pong (Ping pong ball), has a simple song in Spanish, lots of movement, and takes only a few minutes to play. Everyone sings the song the whole time, so there is lots of repetition. I have played this game with preschool and grade school groups and once I even played [...]
Movement and music are valuable tools for teaching Spanish to children. Combining the two, children process the language at a deeper level and retain what they learn longer. Certain vocabulary, like parts of the body, lends itself to songs with actions. There are many Spanish versions of the classic Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, but [...]
Teachers and parents teaching Spanish to their children should build Spanish into daily routines as much as possible. Repetition is essential to language learning, and if teachers and parents incorporate a song or a poem into daily activities, they are much more likely to be consistent and repeat the Spanish enough that children can process [...]
My kids learned a lot of Spanish through popular music. When they were small, we listened to music in Spanish in the car. They were patient with my musical taste most of the time, and as they got older, they started recommending artists and songs in Spanish that they liked. Now, they are my best [...]
I recently wrote about a song to teach children the vowel sounds in Spanish. The song A,E,I,O,U is by Carolina Gómez, and she was kind enough to send me the CD. I always enjoy making connections with people who are creating quality Spanish-language materials for children. Hands on Spanish has 20 songs and comes with [...]
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