CC Image courtesy of Municipalidad de Talcahuano

1. Describir la foto – Describe the photo
Estas personas están en una feria para celebrar el Día de San Valentín. Hay globos rojos y las mesas son rojas y blancas. También hay muchos corazones.
Una mujer vende dulces, galletas y otros regalos. Ella tiene una silla blanca, pero no está sentada. Ella está de pie. Un hombre y una mujer miran los regalos.

[These people are at a fair to celebrate Valentine’s Day. There are red balloons and the tables are red and white. There are also lots of hearts.
A woman is selling candy, cookies and other presents. She has a white chair, but she is not sitting down. She is standing up. A man and a woman are looking at the presents.]

2. Seleccionar la respuesta – Choose the answer
¿Los globos son rojos o blancos?
¿La persona que vende los regalos es un hombre o una mujer?
¿La silla es roja o blanca?
¿La mujer que vende regalos está sentada o está de pie?

3. Señalar con el dedo – Pointing and counting
¿Dónde están las mesas?
¿Dónde está la silla?
¿Dónde están los regalos?
¿Cuántas personas miran los regalos?
¿Dónde están los globos rojos?

4. Sí o no – Yes or No
¿La fería es para celebrar el Día de San Valentín?
¿Un hombre vende los regalos?
¿Hay globos blancos?
¿La mujer está sentada?
¿Hay muchos corazónes?

5. Decir un poco más – Say a little more (respuestas/answers)
¿Qué día se celebra en la feria? (Se celebra El día de San Valentín / Valentine’s day is being celebrated.)
¿De qué color son los globos? (Los globos son rojos. / The balloons are red.)
¿Cuántas personas miran los regalos? (Dos personas miran los regalos. / Two people are looking at the presents.)
¿Qué hacen el hombre y la mujer? (Miran los regalos. / They are looking at presents).

6. ¿Y tú? –  What about you?
¿Celebras el Día de San Valentín? ( Sí, celebro….No, no celebro…)
¿Les das tarjetas a tus amigos? (Sí, les doy, No, no les doy…)
¿Te gustan los dulces?
¿Te gustan los regalos?
¿Puedes ver unos corazones en la foto? ¿Dónde están?

7. Vocabulario – Vocabulary
las personas – people
la feria – fair
celebrar – celebrate
el Día de San Valentín – Valentine’s Day
hay – there are
los globos – balloons
rojos/rojas – red
las mesas – tables
blancas – white
también – also, too
muchos – many
los corazones – hearts
una mujer – a woman
vende – is selling
los dulces – candy
las galletas – cookies
otros – other
los regalos – presents, gifts
tiene – has
la silla – chair
pero – but
(no) está sentada –  is (not) sitting
está de pie – is standing
el hombre – man
miran – are looking at

Listen to this short Spanish audio description of a very common object. Can you guess what it is? This is one of a series of videos called Adivina la palabra de hoy (Guess Today’s Word). The Spanish audio in these short videos is excellent. The series is produced by the Fundación de la Lengua Española, a private non-profit from Spain that promotes the teaching of Spanish. In this video, two girls describe a common word for viewers to guess. At the end of the video, the word appears on the screen. The video is short, about one minute long.

Listening to this Spanish audio is an excellent language learning activity. The words in the descriptions tend to be used together or are associated with the word you are trying to guess. This is an effective way to expand vocabulary.

Of course, this Spanish audio also makes great listening practice. The sentences are short and the children speak directly to the camera. Children will not understand every word of the description, but that is fine. They are practicing listening for the main idea, that is, how the words that they do understand come together to communicate one concept.

For example, in this video many children will understand the clues amarillo, fruta, comen, monos and abrir. That is probably enough to guess the word. Listening for words that they understand is an important skill in language learning. Children need the opportunity to practice in order to develop the ability to distinguish the words they know in a stream of language.

Vocabulary for the Spanish audio

This is a list of the common Spanish words that the children use in the following video. The words in the list are in the order you hear them. You can listen for these words with your child and try to guess what is being described. The mystery word will be shown at the end of the video, but if you want to know before you listen, scroll down. A transcript, translation and the answer follow the video.

amarillo – yellow
fruta – fruit
comen – eat
los monos – monkeys
mediano – medium-sized
grande – big
pequeño – small
abrir – open
dentro – inside
blando – soft
negro – black
verde – green

Spanish audio transcript

Es amarillo. / It’s yellow.
Y es una fruta. / And it is a fruit.
Lo comen los monos. / Monkeys eat it.
Y es mediano. Puede ser mediano o grande o pequeño. / It is medium-sized. It can be medium-sized or big or small.
Se puede abrir. / You can open it.
Puede ser, por..por dentro.. puede, puede estar muy blando y puede ser negro. / It can..inside..it can, can be very soft and it can be black.
También puede estar verde, la cascara. / It can also be green, the peel.

The word being described is plátano – banana.

You may also be interested in these posts:

Spanish audio – Guess this word 1

Spanish audio – Guess this word 2

This is wonderful Spanish song to teach or review colors. The song is called Todas las cosas tienen su color and it is by Siempre así y los Caños. The beginning of the song relates colors to objects, reinforcing the color word and the words for the different items. The second part of the song is a list of things, but the song does not mention their color. This list lends itself to lots of different activities. Kids can color pictures they are given, classify the objects by color or draw their own pictures.

This video has great pictures and also has the lyrics on the screen. I have included the lyrics below, too. This is another video of the Spanish song about colors with pictures than children have drawn.

You can download Todas las cosas tienen su color from Amazon.

Spanish song lyrics

Blanca la nieve, blanca la sal,
Azul el cielo, azul el mar,
Verde los campos, amarillo el sol,
Todas las cosas tienen su color.

Gris la nube cuando va a llover,
Naranja el cielo al atardecer,
Roja la amapola, negro el carbón,
Todas las cosas tienen su color.

Una pera, una manzana, un melocotón,
un canario, una sardina, una vaca, un león,
una radio, una nevera, un televisor,
Todas las cosas tienen su color.

Un arbusto, una planta, una hierba, una flor,
una bici, una moto, un coche, un camión,
una flauta, una guitarra, un acordeón,
Todas las cosas tienen su color.

You may also be interested in Online activity teaches Spanish pronunciation and colores 1

CC Image courtesy of Jeremy Tarling

1. Describir la foto – Describe the photo
Hay dos personas en esta foto. Una mamá y su hija juegan en la nieve. Están en la acera. Hay nieve en la acera, en la calle y en los carros. La mamá tiene una bola de nieve en la mano. Se la va a tirar a su hija. La niña también tiene una bola de nieve en la mano. Las dos llevan abrigos y botas. El abrigo de la mamá es negro y sus botas son de muchos colores. El abrigo de la niña es rojo y sus botas también son rojas. La niña se está riendo. Ella se está divirtiendo.

[There are two people in this picture. A mom and her daughter are playing in the snow. They are on the sidewalk. There is snow on the sidewalk, on the street and on the cars. The mom has a snowball in her hand. She is going to throw it at her daughter. The little girl also has a snowball in her hand. Both of them are wearing coats and boots. The mom’s coat is black and her boots are many different colors. The little girl’s coat is red and her boots are red too. The little girl is laughing. She is having fun.]

2. Seleccionar la respuesta – Choose the answer
¿La mamá juega con su hijo o con su hija?
¿La mamá y su hija están en la acera o en la calle?
¿La mamá tiene una bola de nieve o dos bolas de nieve?
¿La niña tiene un abrigo negro o un abrigo rojo? ¿Sus botas son negras o rojas?

3. Señalar con el dedo – Pointing and counting
¿Cuántas personas hay en la foto?
¿Dónde está la mamá?
¿Dónde está la niña?
¿Dónde está la bola de nieve que tiene la mamá?
¿Dónde están las botas de la niña?
¿Dónde está la calle?
¿Cuántos carros hay en la foto?

4. Sí o no – Yes or No
¿Hay tres personas en la foto?
¿Hay nieve en la calle?
¿La mamá va a tirar la bola de nieve?
¿La niña tiene una bola de nieve?
¿Las botas de la mamá son rojas?
¿El abrigo de la mamá es negro?
¿La niña se está divirtiendo?

5. Decir un poco más – Say a little more (respuestas/answers)
¿Cuántas personas hay en la foto? (Hay dos. / There are two.)
¿Dónde están las personas? (Están en la acera. / They are on the sidewalk.)
¿Dónde están los carros? (Están en la calle. / They are in the street.)
¿Qué tiene la niña en la mano? (Tiene una bola de nieve. / She has a snowball.)
¿Quién va a tirar una bola de nieve? (La mamá va a tirar una bola de nieve. / The mom is going to throw a snowball.)
¿De qué color es el abrigo de la niña? (El abrigo de la niña es rojo. / The little girl’s coat is red.)
¿Quién se está riendo? (La niña se está riendo. / The little girl is laughing.)

6. ¿Y tú? –  What about you? (verb forms for answers)
¿Hay nieve donde vives? (Hay…)
¿Te gusta jugar en la nieve? (Me gusta… No me gusta…)
¿Tienes botas? ¿De qué color son? (Tengo… Son…)
¿Tienes un abrigo? ¿De qué color es? (Tengo… Es…)
¿Te diviertes jugando afuera? ¿Tiras bolas de nieve? ¿Corres? (Si, me divierto…No, no me divierto…Tiro…Corro…)
¿Con quién juegas? ¿Con tu mamá? ¿Con tu papá? ¿Con tus hermanos? ¿Con tus amigos? (Juego…)

7. Vocabulario – Vocabulary
hay – there are, there is
personas – people
la foto – photograph
una mamá – a mom
su hija – her daughter
juegan – are playing
la nieve – the snow
están – are
la acera – sidewalk
la calle – the street
los carros – the cars
tiene – has
una bola de nieve – a snowball
la mano – hand
Se la va a tirar a su hija. – She is going to throw it at her daughter.
la niña – the little girl
también – also
las dos – both of them
llevan – are wearing
botas – boots
abrigos – coats
negro – black
muchos – many
colores – colors
rojo – red
se está riendo – is laughing
Ella se está divirtiendo. – She is having fun.

You may also be interested in this activity – Kids learn Spanish with pictures – Happy Pigs

Kids love treasure hunts, the games where each clue leads to another clue and eventually to treasure. They also have fun with scavenger hunts, where they have a list of things to find. The term Búsqueda del tesoro is used for both activities in Spanish and they can be excellent language activities for kids learning Spanish. I attached a few of my hunts at the end of the post, but you can easily make your own.

Treasure and scavenger hunts can done inside or outside, and there are many different kinds of hunts and pistas (clues). Lots of hunts can be adapted to language learning. They can also be designed for children who read or do not read yet. A online search will turn up a variety of websites and books with suggestions for having successful hunts. Regardless of the kind of hunt, here are a few suggestions for structuring a Spanish game for language learners.

- Use familiar Spanish vocabulary. Hunts are an excellent way to reenter vocabulary that children have been introduced to. If kids are looking for something that they do not know the Spanish word for, they will need more support – a picture and an adult who repeatedly uses the new word as they search for the object. As a general rule, children should hunt for objects they can recognize the Spanish word for.

Unfortunately, using familiar Spanish vocabulary changes the nature of a scavenger hunt. If kids are using their first language, it is perfectly reasonable to have them find a ribbon or a toothpick. With kids learning Spanish, I focus on general, useful vocabulary, so these are not words they know. You can specifying the color of some objects to make them harder to find, like a black sock or a red crayon. With older kids, you can also have them search larger spaces (a neighborhood, a zoo, a park) and use a digital camera to take pictures of what they find. This increases the options for items to search for. You can include things like un camión azul, and una flor amarilla.

- Keep the kids together. Hunts can be organized for one group, several small groups, or individuals. To provide support and reinforce the language it is easier to have kids hunt as one group. I am lucky to work with small groups. With familiar vocabulary, small groups or pairs do well too, depending on the age of the children. Because I want my students to say what they are looking for or read clues aloud, I have kids search in at least pairs rather than individually.

- Provide a key Spanish phrase. Before you start, teach or review a phrase that you will use throughout the hunt. For example Ahora bucamos … (Now we’re looking for), Tenemos que encontrar… (We have to find), Necesitamos… (We need), or Vamos al / a la (We going to the…) The phrase will depend on the hunt, but it is a good way to keep kids speaking Spanish as they get more excited.

- Repeat key words. Use the key words (the object you are looking for or key words in the clue) over and over. The kids will be busy moving and looking once they know what they are searching for or where they are going. Speak lots of Spanish to relate their activity to the language. This is especially important for kids who do not read and are using picture clues.

- Use a pattern for the clues. Make clues that follow a pattern in terms of language structure. This will help kids understand what they read/hear. For example: 1) Yo te ayudo a comer la sopa, pero no soy un plato. 2)Yo te ayudo a cepillar los dientes, pero no soy un cepillo de dientes.

- Use pictures. With picture clues, treasure hunts and scavenger hunts can be great activities for children who do not read yet. If you want more complicated clues, you can read them aloud and it is a good listening activity.

- Review when you are done. When kids have finished a scavenger hunt, go through the whole collection of objects as a group to review and reinforce the words. With little ones, you can give every child a object and when you call off the word they can stand up and repeat it.

Treasure hunts and scavenger hunts have to be adapted to different locations and students. The vocabulary will vary with what kids know and what is available to search for. Clues can be very simple or more complicated, depending on the level of the kids.  For example, all four of these are possible clues for vaso:

1.
2. un vaso
3. Está en la cocina. Es de plástico. Se usa para beber.
4. Soy de plastico o de vidrio. Me llenas de agua y después te lleno de agua.

I have attached several of my scavenger and treasure hunts for you to print and use or adapt to your needs.

Learn Spanish hunts with picture clues:
1. Learn Spanish treasure hunt – Los colores (can be done in a classroom or at home)

2. Learn Spanish treasure hunt – La casa

3. Learn Spanish scavenger hunt – Encuentra estas cosas (a hunt for things found in most households)  This pdf has 2 versions. One with just the picture clues and one with labeled picture clues.

Learn Spanish hunts with text-based clues:
1. Learn Spanish scavenger hunt – Encuentra 20 cosas (10 of the clues are objects found in most households and 10 of the clues use common adjectives, for example, algo grande, algo verde.)
2. Learn Spanish treasure and scavenger hunt – ¿Qué es? The pdf has both a scavenger and a treasure hunt. The clues describe what objects are used for.

You may be interested in:
Spanish game – Printable cootie-catchers

In Spanish, this game is a comecocos or a sacapiojos. In English, it is called a cootie-catcher, a chatterbox or a fortune teller. This is an excellent language activity and it can be adapted in lots of different ways to use with Spanish language learners. It involves folding paper to make a toy that fits over your fingers and opens and closes. A friend chooses a series of pictures or words to arrive at the answer to a question. Comecocos is also the Spanish name for the 80s video game Pac-man, so if you want to search for this paper game, search comecocos de papel.

If you are not familiar with this game, you can get an idea of how it works from this video: Spanish game

Traditionally, a comecocos is a kind of fortune-teller, with the final answer being a prediction. For Spanish language learners, you can make the comecocos so kids arrive at a question to answer, an action to do, an adjective that describes them, their favorite food, or other vocabulary that you want to practice.

When I use a comecocos with Spanish language learners, instead of having kids spell words, I have them say the words in syllables and usually as part of a phrase. For example, if the first choice is of a color, and the friend chooses rojo, the child with the comecocos opens and closes it twice, as she says aloud ro-jo, or for each syllable as she says the phrase El color es rojo. Kids like the phrases because they get to open and close the comecocos more. You can use phrases like El número es… and El animal es…, depending on the comecocos.

With any comecocos, you will want to be sure the player with the toy knows how to ask the other player which color,  number or animal she chooses. Teach the question ¿Cuál quieres? or ¿Cuál escojes? if the kids do not know it. They can also say Escoje uno (Choose one.).

Printable Spanish game – Comecocos

Here are a few of my comecocos to print and use with Spanish language learners. You can easily make your own by writing in words, adding drawings and using stickers. I have included a blank comecocos. There are instructions for folding these below the PDFs, but you can also just fold them without a pattern. Links to useful sites with more instructions and ideas follow my materials.

Spanish game – Los animales: A comecocos with numbers and animals. The final choice reveals a question about what sound an animal makes: ¿Cómo hace un perro?  This is a simple way for kids to practice animal vocabulary.

Spanish game – Preguntas: A comecocos with colors and numbers. The final choice reveals a personal information question to answer, such as ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?

Spanish game – ¿Cómo eres?: A comecocos with colors and numbers. The final choice reveals an adjective that describes the player such as paciente, fuerte, amable.

Spanish game – La Navidad: A comecocos with Christmas vocabulary and numbers. The final choice reveals a picture of what the player will get for Christmas.

A blank comecocos. Write or draw whatever you like. Stickers work well too.

Printable instructions for the Spanish game, comecocos.

Instructions for folding the Spanish game – Comecocos

1. Cut out the comecocos.

2. With the printed side up, fold in half to get a rectangle. Fold that rectangle in half to get a square.

3. Open the comecocos completely, place the printed side down on the table, and fold each corner into the center (the point of the corner will touch the middle). You will have a square.

4. Flip over the comecocos (the corners you just folded in will be against the table). Again fold in each corner so the point touches the center.

5. Flip over again and fold in half to crease, unfold and then fold in half the other way to crease. Unfold. You should end up with a square with little pockets at each corner.

6. Fold in half with the pockets on the outside. Hold the comecocos so the openings of the pockets are down. Put the thumb and index finger from one hand into the pockets on one side. Put the other thumb and index finger into the other two pockets. Pinch your index fingers and thumbs together.

Useful links for using this Spanish game:

- Instructions for folding a comecocos.

- Another set of instructions to make this Spanish game.

- Another set of instructions from PBS.

- An online form for making your own Spanish folded paper game. The outside squares are characters from the PBS show Arthur, but they are each associated with a color. The second level has numbers. You type in the final phrases. You may have to write in accent marks. I couldn’t get them to work on my Mac.

- Spanish instructions for making this game.

- A pretty printable Spanish comecocos with the planets on the inside. There is information (in Spanish) about how the students use this Spanish game to choose which planet to study.

- Instructions and additional game ideas. There are a few printable patterns, one with only shapes and colors that would work in Spanish.

- Spanish video showing how to fold this game. There are lots of videos in English on YouTube if you search “cootie-catcher”.

This extensive set of free printable materials has lots of wonderful activities for Spanish language learners. It is offered by Udicom on the educational portal Educarm of the Department of Education in Murcia, Spain.

These printable PDFs are designed for native Spanish speakers with a focus on language in context. The set includes a variety of activities that can be used with Spanish language learners at different levels. These materials are divided into 11 units. Each unit is divided into 6 sections with many different activities. Each unit also includes sets of activities for several letters.

The first section in each unit, Bloque 1, begins with a vocabulary list and picture cards with the image, the word in print and the word in cursive. These are followed by vocabulary exercises like crossing out the picture that does not belong, cutting and pasting into categories and ordering a series of pictures.

All the sections in a unit have exercises for beginning readers like matching the picture to the word, categorizing, completing the word, ordering syllables, and puzzles like crosswords and wordsearches. In addition, there is practice with basic grammar points like gender and articles (el or la) and forming plurals. There are also activities with basic concepts like shapes, colors, and size.

The exercises are from Spain, so some of the words, nouns in particular, differ from what is used in Latin America. However, the vast majority of the vocabulary is standard. There is a lot of material in these units and much of it will be useful to teachers and parents working with Spanish language learners.

These materials are offered free of charge for educational purposes. You can accept the terms of use here and you will be taken to the index of Printable Spanish Activities.

You can go directly to the index to look over the activities, but do go back and accept the terms of use (to not modify the work and leave the copyright intact) if you find materials  you can use.

These are the 11 units:

1. El colegio y mi aula.  - School and my classroom
2. El cuerpo y los sentidos. – The body and the senses
3. Los alimentos. – Food
4. Las prendas de vestir. – Clothing
5. La casa. – The house
6. La calle. – The street
7. Los oficios. – Jobs
8. Los animales. – Animals
9. Las plantas. – Plants
10. Los medios de transporte. – Transportation
11. Los medios de comunicación. – Communication

CC Image courtesy of Heather Sunderland

1. Describir la foto – Describe the photo
El muñeco de nieve es blanco y alto. Tiene un sombrero negro, dos ojos negros y una nariz anaranjada. El muñeco de nieve tiene una bufanda roja y cuatro botones negros. Tiene una boca sonriente, pero no es fácil verla. Detrás del muñeco de nieve, hay un árbol con luces.

[The snowman is white and tall. He has a black hat, two black eyes and an orange nose. The snowman has a red scarf and four black buttons. He has a smiling mouth, but it’s not easy to see it. Behind the snowman, there is a tree with lights.]

2. Seleccionar la respuesta – Choose the answer
¿El muñeco de nieve es bajo o es alto?
¿Tiene un sombrero negro o un sombrero rojo?
¿Tiene cuatro botones o tiene cinco botones?

3. Señalar con el dedo – Pointing and counting
¿Dónde está el sombrero del muñeco de nieve?
¿Dónde están los ojos?
¿Dónde está la boca sonriente del muñeco de nieve? ¡No es fácil verla!
¿Cuántos botones tiene?
¿Dónde está la bufanda?
¿Dónde está el árbol con luces?

4. Sí o no – Yes or No
¿El muñeco de nieve es alto?
¿El muñeco de nieve tiene cuatro ojos?
¿Tiene una bufanda negra?
¿El árbol está detrás del muñeco de nieve?

5. Decir un poco más – Say a little more (respuestas/answers)
¿De qué color es el muñeco de nieve? (Es blanco. / He is white.)
¿De qué color son los ojos? (Son negros. / They are black.)
¿Qué prendas de vestir tiene el muñeco de nieve? (Tiene un sombrero y una bufanda. / He has a hat and a scarf.)
¿Qué hay en el árbol? (Hay luces / There are lights.)

6. ¿Y tú? –  What about you?
¿Hay nieve donde vives?
¿Te gusta hacer un muñeco de nieve?
¿Tienes una bufanda? ¿De qué color es?
Los ojos del muñeco de nieve son negros. ¿De qué color son tus ojos?

7. Vocabulario – Vocabulary
el muñeco de nieve – snowman
blanco – white
alto – tall
tiene – has
el sombrero – hat
negro – black
ojos – eyes
la nariz – nose
anaranjada – orange
la bufanda – scraf
roja – red
los botones – buttons
la boca – mouth
sonriente – smiling
pero – but
fácil – easy
ver – to see
detrás de – behind
hay – there is
el árbol – tree
las luces – lights

Let’s Learn to Speak Spanish: Conversational Workbook and CD is a set of worksheets and activities by Susana Murphy, published by the non-profit One World Foundation. Susana sent me a copy of this book because she realized it would be helpful to many Spanish Playground readers. These activities are an excellent supplement to an elementary Spanish program. The book is also a great choice for parents who want to reinforce a school program or introduce their child to Spanish at home. The exercises cover the most common introductory topics and the pages can be photocopied. It takes tons of material to give kids enough exposure to these basics. This workbook gives teachers and parents an easy way to reinforce what kids are learning.

Most of these Spanish activities are based on translation and there is a glossary in the back of the book. This format makes the book is a good choice for parents who do not have much knowledge of Spanish but want to introduce school-age children to Spanish at home. The workbook comes with an audio CD of native speakers from Costa Rica, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. With this support, parents and kids can hear the correct pronunciation and practice the sounds of Spanish. These are written activities, but I really like how consistently this book reminds kids to use the spoken language. They need lots encouragement to speak Spanish!

Let’s Learn to Speak Spanish includes activities on topics like the alphabet, greetings, numbers, the days of the week, the months of the year, and the weather. There are also worksheets for units like colors, food, animals, clothing, body parts and places. The grammar practice is basic and appropriate for many elementary programs and even middle school programs. In addition to the singular forms of regular -ar verbs in the present, the book has exercises on ir, tener, querer and gustar.

For each of the topics covered, there are several different Spanish activities. You will find word searches, scrambled words, and pictures to color. Kids will choose which word does not belong, match words to pictures, copy Spanish sentences and complete sentences by filling in the blank. The book includes flash cards of common phrases and vocabulary and also mini-books to practice the verbs quiero, voy and tengo. All of the worksheets provide sufficient practice, but are not so long that they become boring.  Also, I love the choice of vocabulary in this book. It is truly representative of a standard Spanish that will be understood worldwide.

Many of these topics include a section called ¿Sabes? on one of the worksheets. These sections are a wonderful collection of cultural and linguistic information. The explanations are short with clear examples and include all kinds of fun, useful and very accurate information.

There is no doubt that this book will save teachers time and provide students with an opportunity to practice the basics. I think that Let’s Learn to Speak Spanish is also a great model of the kinds of Spanish activities that teachers can make. For parents who want to introduce kids to Spanish at home or reinforce a school program, there are a variety of activities that will keep kids entertained while giving them some of the essential practice that it takes to learn Spanish.

Disclosure: The company sent me a copy of the book to write this article. All of the ideas and opinions are my own.

This free online game is the perfect first game for children starting to learn Spanish. Kids do not have to know any Spanish to play, and the Spanish audio makes it a wonderful introduction to the language. Playing Las llaves del tesoro (Keys to the Treasure) children hear introductions, colors and other common vocabulary in a context that makes the language completely clear. They absorb the sounds of Spanish and soon understand the basic phrases and words used in the game. The vocabulary in this game corresponds to the words on the En mi casa CD by Singalingo, but it is basic Spanish and great for any child learning the language.

Use this link to Las llaves del tesoro – Online game with Spanish audio.

To begin the game, players choose a character. There are six options, and five of those are people who will introduce themselves in Spanish. The sixth is a monkey who introduces himself in monkey (something my son and husband thought was hilarious). There is Spanish audio and the text of the introductions also appears on the screen. Encourage children to click on the different characters and listen to all the introductions before they choose one. The more they listen, the more they learn.

Players also pick a color for the clothes of the character. The Spanish words are beside the colors and there is Spanish audio that pronounces each color word. Again, encourage kids to click on all the colors and listen before they choose what color the character will wear.

Choosing the character and the color, the context and images makes the Spanish perfectly clear. You do not have to translate anything for children playing this game. In fact, avoid relating the Spanish to English. Just let kids listen to the words and phrases and absorb the language. They do not have to repeat what they hear. At this point, they learn by listening.

To play the game, kids click just before the treasure chest to open it as it goes by. If the key reaches the chest it opens and an object comes out. The object is labeled with the Spanish word and the word is pronounced several times.

The game always lasts 1:30 and kids see how many times they can open the trunk in that time. Children will associate the Spanish audio with the objects, so there is no need to translate to English. Again, it is best to avoid translation when it is not necessary, and the images make the meaning of the Spanish words clear.

Kids learn by listening to the Spanish words as they play this game. Once they are familiar with the vocabulary, you can encourage them to repeat the words or to guess at what is in the chest. The vocabulary in the game is basic Spanish. Children will learn words like el sol (the sun), la luna (the moon), las estrellas (the stars), el plato(the plate), el tenedor (the fork), la cuchara (the spoon), el vaso ( the glass), el queso (the cheese), el pastel (the pie), los pantalones (the pants), and la camisa (the shirt). The words included in the this game reinforce the vocabulary on the En mi casa CD by Singalingo, but the game is excellent for any beginning Spanish learner.