These online activities are provided by the Spanish publisher Editorial Teide as support for their textbooks. They are designed for children in Spain, but many of the activities are also appropriate for Spanish language learners. These activities for Primer Ciclo (6-8 years old) deal with basic concepts, vocabulary and language structures. Some of the games are very simple, for example, categorizing objects as duro or blando. Others, like Viviendas diferentes use more language and would [...]
This online game in Spanish teaches children about the five senses. La máquina de los sentidos is a game from Discovery Kids. It is designed to teach native Spanish speakers about taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch. It is an excellent game for Spanish language learners because – it has limited, focused vocabulary that is supported by images. – it is based on two question structures that are repeated over and over. – it has [...]
There are lots of simple Spanish jokes that children can understand. I have written several posts with jokes and suggestions for telling them to Spanish language learners. They have many of the most common Spanish jokes for kids and you can find there here: First Jokes for Children Learning Spanish More Jokes for Children Learning Spanish Spanish Jokes for Children 10 Simple Spanish Jokes for Kids Which jokes a child understands will depend on her [...]
This is a traditional Spanish song for children. It compares a face to a house. The song has simple actions and uses lots of common vocabulary. You can make up any actions so that kids point to the body parts when they are mentioned. The ones I teach are a lot like the actions in the second video below, but I include the nose as the timbre (doorbell). My preschoolers can do the actions to [...]
This traditional Spanish game, El juego de la oca, is a board game similar to Snakes and Ladders. Players roll dice and move in a spiral to reach the center of the board. If they land on la oca (the goose), they move ahead to the next oca and roll again, saying De oca a oca y tiro porque me toca. If they land on the bridge, they move to the next bridge and roll [...]
There are lots of versions of the traditional Spanish song Pedro el conejito. All of them are about a rabbit who had a fly on his nose, but it is a song that can be adapted in many ways. In some versions, the insect changes to una abeja (a bee) and then to other bugs. In other versions it is always a fly, but the body part changes. This song is perfect for doing with [...]
Chillola is a website designed to let children explore different languages. The site has lots of basic Spanish vocabulary accompanied by images and native-speaker audio. It also has a variety of printable activities. The vocabulary is divided into categories including numbers, colors, shapes, school words, animals, fruit, vegetables, food, the calender, weather, time, house, vocabulary, prepositions, and opposites. The activities for several of the categories show one screen with pictures of all of the vocabulary [...]
Saco una manito (I take out one hand) is a perfect Spanish song or finger play for toddlers and preschoolers. It is also known as Las manitas and is one of the first songs that many Spanish-speaking children learn. In Mexico and Spain, the diminutive of la mano (hand) is la manita. In those countries, the song is sung with la manita instead of la manito. This Spanish song teaches children the words sacar (to [...]
Talking about pictures is a great way to speak Spanish with children. Use this photo of a little girl and her mom playing in the snow to help children learn Spanish. The questions that follow, like the questions in 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 [...]
This slideshare presentation has nine short Spanish poems about winter. They were compiled by a teacher in Alicante, Spain. One of the poems is a traditional song that I wrote about here: Spanish song – Winter. Unfortunately, I do not know the authors or sources of the other poems. You will find a Spanish transcript below the slide presentation. If you recognize any of the other poems, I would love to know if they are [...]
¿Uno? ¿Dos? ¿Tal vez tres? is a Spanish ebook for parents and teachers to read with young language learners. The repetition and rhyme help children absorb the sound of the language and the text encourages children to count the animals, engaging them with the language. Scroll down for a parent/teacher guide and a translation. Just click for full screen and audio. The free PDF is available to download from issuu. Open publication – Free publishing [...]
Spanish Together has a wonderful free video about a snowman that is perfect for using with beginning Spanish learners this time of year. Un muñeco de nieve begins by asking ¿Qué es? and then adds the parts to the snowman one by one using tiene (he has): tiene dos ojos, tiene una nariz, tiene una boca, etc. When the snowman is complete with buttons, hat, and scarf, kids get the answer ¡es un muñeco de [...]