Teaching words as opposites, antónimos or opuestos, increases a child’s Spanish vocabulary. The relationship between the two concepts helps kids understand both words. There are lots of activities that you can do with opposites. The ones I mention work with my printables, or you can easily make your own cards with different vocabulary. If the vocabulary is new to your child or students, you will want to start with just a few pairs. You can [...]
This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to the winner Jodi Monroy! Thanks to everyone for entering, for the great book list (I’ll compile it) and for saying nice things about Spanish Playground. No saben cuanto les agradezco el apoyo! Pocoyó is an animated television series in Spanish. There are also Spanish books for kids based on the show and I am happy to be able to give two of them to one of my readers. The [...]
In this guest post, Laura Anaya de Zuchovicki, founder of the Spanish curriculum Conversa Books, writes about her inspiration to teach Spanish and also prepare students as world citizens. Born and educated in Mexico, she draws on twelve years of experience teaching elementary and middle schools students in the United States. Some people say that in order to have a complete life you must have a child, write a book and leave your personal mark. [...]
Los conejos (The rabbits) is a Spanish song for kids with lots of movement. Students learn it in preschool and elementary school in many Spanish-speaking countries. My younger students love to jump and pretending to be a rabbit is the perfect reason to jump around and sing in Spanish. I like to teach this song because the words and the actions correspond so closely. Students move closer as they sing cerquita and farther away as [...]
These printable wheels make it easy to talk about the Spanish days of the week. The days are on the outside wheel, and the inside wheel helps kids talk about them relative to hoy. There are two versions of the inner wheel. One has ayer, hoy and mañana and the other adds anteayer and pasado mañana. I have to admit that I really do not like to teach the days of the week. I know [...]
¡Qué tan grande era todo cuando yo era chico! is a Spanish poem for children. It uses basic vocabulary that is appropriate for beginning Spanish language learners and is excellent exposure to the imperfect tense. This poem is about the sensation children have that the world around them is getting smaller as they grow. Many kids remember when they could not reach the counter or the faucet, for example. The poem is by the well-known [...]
These printable Spanish lacing cards are a hit with students, especially the ones who do best with hands-on activities. The cards are basically matching or fill-in-the-blank exercises, but kids do them by lacing string or yarn to join the two columns. If they lace the cards correctly, the yarn on the back of the card matches the lines. These are not preschool lacing cards. One of the cards focuses on colors and animals. The order [...]
Semillitas is a Spanish language cable television channel for preschoolers from SomosTV. In Wisconsin, it is available through Charter Communications, but it is carried by other companies in different parts of the country. The Spanish videos for kids on Semillitas are designed specifically for the Latino community of the United States and Puerto Rico and dedicated to “la educación, estimulación y divertimento de niños en edad temprana a la vez de asistir a sus padres [...]
Kids in elementary school love music, but many of them are no longer interested in traditional childrens’ songs in Spanish. Rather, they have moved on to popular music with contemporary rhythms and themes that revolve around friends. Choosing popular Spanish songs for kids can be difficult though, because much of the content is directed to young adults and adults. One source of fun music that is appropriate for kids in elementary and middle school is [...]
I play this simple Spanish game for kids with students and they love it. I usually play with preschoolers, but I have also played with students as old as eight and they have fun with it too. It is a guessing game. You have a set of paper cups that you have labeled, put stickers on, or covered with different color paper. One person hides a small object under a paper cup and the other [...]
This video teaches the words for twelve Spanish body parts. It begins with a head and adds parts until there is a complete person. Each word is clearly pronounced and the text is on the screen. At the end of the video, the body parts are repeated. I like this video because there is no English translation. Children will easily understand what the word means because they can see the parts of the body. I [...]
The San Francisco Public Library has a page with five children’s songs in Spanish. All of the songs are also finger plays or have actions. The page refers to them as cuentos, or stories, and indeed they are the first little stories that many Spanish speakers learn. Three of the songs are very traditional: Cinco lobitos, Pin Pon and Tortillitas para Mamá. La araña pequeñita (The Itsy, Bitsy Spider) and Osito, osito (Teddy Bear, Teddy [...]