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 [...]
Cantaré, a group based in the Washington D.C. area, performs and records songs in Spanish for children. Led by vocalist Cecilia Esquivel, Cantaré offers a wonderful combination of accessible language and fabulous music to Spanish language learners. You can learn more about Cecilia Esquivel and Cantaré on their website. The award-winning CD ¡Al agua pato! includes traditional childen’s songs, tongue twisters and original compositions. If you are a parent or teacher of children learning Spanish [...]
The title of this Spanish song and game, A pares y nones, is Evens and Odds (numbers) in English. This is a traditional game and it is played a lot with groups of kids in Mexico. Everyone joins hands in a circle and walks singing the song. Then, the leader (teacher) calls out a number and everyone hurries to form a group of that many people. I have also seen the game played using other [...]
Summer is here and kids will be spending lots of time in the water. In Spanish it is very common to say ¡Al agua pato! or ¡Al agua patos¡ (Into the water duck/ducks) to encourage children to get into the water. This is a phrase you can use at swimming lessons, the beach, the pool or bath time. The phrase is so common that it is a brand of children’s swimwear and is used as [...]
Cada día de la semana (Each Day of the Week) is a song about the days of the week in Spanish. It is by Disney Jr. España and it is just ridiculous enough to appeal to kids. The video below has the lyrics on the screen so that kids can sing along. The song has a fun rhythm and once kids are familiar with the words, they will love singing with the video. There is [...]
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 [...]
I have written about Presencias de Música in the past, but I visited again recently and was so impressed that I have to share it again. The site is maintained by a group of volunteers, under the direction and supervision of Prof. Pablo Bensaya of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of the site is to provide resources for music education to teachers in Spanish-speaking countries, but it is a wonderful resource for anyone teaching Spanish [...]
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 [...]
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 traditional Spanish game, Debajo del puente (Under the Bridge), has several versions. It is a hand-clapping game and is also used as a jump-rope rhyme. The hand-clapping game ends with the kids freezing in place and trying not to laugh or move. As the words indicate, the first one who moves gets a pinch. Kids love this game, but be sure they know that the pinch should not be hard! Rhymes like this are [...]