Hand clapping games in Spanish are great language activities for children. These two hand clapping games in Spanish are each based on just one word, so they are simple to learn. They are the first hand-clapping games I teach preschoolers.
There are many more traditional hand-clapping games in Spanish. You can find some of my favorites in these posts:
Hand clapping games in Spanish – Por aquí pasó un caballo and Estaba la Catalina
Hand clapping games in Spanish – Marinero que se fue a la mar
Song and hand clapping game – Rema, rema, remador
As I said, these hand-clapping games in Spanish are each based on one word. One is chocolate and the other is mariposa (butterfly). They are both excellent for practicing correct Spanish pronunciation. The games break the word into syllables and put it together again. Both rhymes reinforce the short, clear vowel sounds of Spanish.
The words to Chocolate are:
Choco, choco, la, la
Choco, choco, te, te
Choco, la, choco, te
Cho-co-la-te
Here is a video of playing chocolate. These are the traditional hand motions that I have seen, but any simple pattern will work.
Below you can see another video of Chocolate.
And in this is a video two girls step in time to the rhythm with their feet! I have done this with kids and they love it.
Mariposa is a similar clapping game that works well with language learners. It uses the same pattern to break the word apart and then put the syllables together. This is a good rhyme to practice pronouncing the single Spanish r correctly. It is a quick flap of the tongue against the front of the palate, similar to the tt in the English word little.
The words to Mariposa are:
Mariposa
Mari, mari, po, po
Mari, mari, sa, sa
Mari, po, mari, sa
Ma-ri-po-sa
This is a video of Mariposa.
Photo Credit: quite peculiar via Compfight cc
yogamama
Jan 24, 2013
Thank you for linking up with “Say it Two Ways Thursdays”! I think this is a good idea,especially with long words. Maybe just plain clapping will work with my two year old.
Jenny
Jan 27, 2013
These are both traditional rhymes that children do all over Latin America, as you can see from the videos. I’m sure you could do it with any four-syllable word, as long as the emphasis falls in the next-to-the-last syllable.
Spanishplans
May 10, 2015
My little kids in Colombia loved doing this!
Debbie
May 1, 2017
Lovely examples for ‘fun’ learning
Be social!