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 [...]
9letras is the blog of Alberto Abarca Fillat of Huesca, Spain. Alberto shares educational material for teaching Spanish and the website has an impressive number of printable activities for young Spanish language learners. All of the material is created by the author, and lots of the activities have pictures to help Spanish learners interpret the [...]
My students really like clapping patterns with Spanish words. I keep it simple by using a combination of beats on the table and clapping. We all do the rhythm and say the words in unison. For example, the most simple rhythm we do is to these words: Sí, sí No, no No sé. I use [...]
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 [...]
The games on Jugarjuntos.com are designed for native Spanish speakers, but they work well with young Spanish language learners too. There are a variety of games with audio to teach basic concepts. These games teach Spanish language learners vocabulary and also model correct pronunciation. Online game with audio teaches prepositions in Spanish This game has [...]
Storybird is such an amazing resource that it is hard to know where to begin to write about it. It is a collaborative storytelling site, designed to let children, or anyone, write art-inspired stories. The tremendous variety and excellent quality of the art make Storybird a wonderful tool for teaching and learning Spanish or any [...]
Let’s Eat! / ¡A comer! is a picture book in Spanish and English by Pat Mora. This story fits into any number of my classes. It has family vocabulary, food vocabulary, simple structures, a strong cultural component, and detailed pictures that can be used for all kinds of conversation about home and family. The story [...]
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 [...]
I love the first days of class! It is exciting to be back, and it is an opportunity to get everyone off to a good start. Starting back, I try to use activities where kids are sharing information about themselves in Spanish. I create activities that use familiar vocabulary, have pictures, and are structured to [...]
El juego de Beenny (Beenny’s game) teaches children correct Spanish pronunciation, to read and write the sounds of Spanish, and lots of vocabulary. The game is from OnlineFreeSpanish and it is very entertaining! To play, kids guide a bee through a maze. Each time there is a frog blocking the path, the player writes a [...]
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 [...]
You might be familiar with Wordle, the really fun website that makes word clouds with any text. Wordle is a great tool for adding Spanish to any space. The program works with individual words, so to make it an effective tool for children learning Spanish you will need to use related vocabulary and add context. [...]
Feel free to contact me at playground.spanish gmail.com
