Easter is just a few days away and many of us will be spending time with friends and family. These gatherings can be a good time for kids to practice simple Spanish conversation, or if your family speaks Spanish at home, to spend time listening and speaking the language with relatives. Also, those plastic eggs are just so handy, I could not resist putting a little Spanish in them! These Spanish conversation questions are at [...]
Below you will find a word search with Spanish Easter vocabulary. The words go in all directions, including backwards. The solution is included in the PDF. Lots of kids really like word searches, or sopa de letras, in Spanish. As a supplemental activity, these puzzles can focus attention on a specific category of Spanish words that a child is learning. They are also useful for reinforcing the letter sounds and the sounds in specific words. [...]
This time of year there are lots of plastic eggs around. If you find yourself with a few extra, consider making a language activity where kids match the two halves. You can put a sticker on one half and the word on the other, or a number and the corresponding word. Kids can also match synonyms or antonyms. I like making Spanish games for kids where they put something in the egg to help reinforce [...]
This is the simplest activity ever, but children produce lots of Spanish as we play and they associate the words with actions and pictures. This is a game I usually play with preschoolers, but kindergarteners and even older kids have fun with it, too. We call the game Busca, busca. You can play with one child, two children or a group, inside or outside. All you need are small pictures that represent a word the [...]
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 [...]
Mar y tierra is a traditional playground game. It is very simple and it can be played inside if you have enough space and do not mind the jumping. Traditionally, kids jump between two spaces designated mar and tierra. Since it is almost Easter, you can make the kids conejitos and designate the two spaces bosque or campo and jardín. To play, kids line up beside a line on the ground, so that they can [...]
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 [...]
¡Es primavera! is a Spanish ebook for parents and teachers to read with young language learners. The repetition helps children absorb the sound and structure of the language. The text exactly describes the photos and teaches common nouns associated with spring and the verb veo (I see). 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 – [...]
Since the time I wrote this post, Northumberland Grid for Learning has begun to charge users who are not in Northunberland for the materials. You can find the information on a subscription here: Northumberland Grid for Learning. I will leave these descriptions, but remove the links because they no longer take you to the materials. These seasonal activities are part of the Northumberland Grid for Learning from Northumberland, England. There are a variety of materials [...]
These bunnies are so cute! You can help your child learn Spanish by talking about this picture. The questions that follow, like 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 the picture as you talk about them. Use gestures, facial expressions and actions to help your child [...]
Charlotte Diamond has been singing wonderful songs for children for over 15 years in Spanish, French and English. Somos como las flores (We are like the flowers) is one of her best known Spanish songs, and it is perfect for spring. Somos como las flores has a very positive message about our relationship to the earth and lots of vocabulary about the natural world. These are some of the key words in the song: las [...]
The days are getting longer and warmer, and I have started to talk about spring in my classes. Here are a few helpful resources if you are thinking about the changing season too. La asociación mundial de educadores infantiles has a set of ten coloring pages of different flowers. These are common flowers and coloring them is a great way to brighten a room, learn vocabulary and learn to identify flowers. There is also a [...]