For all of my classes, I have a set of short, entertaining activities to fall back on at times when I am especially busy, when students are working hard with new material or if I just want to change the pace and dynamic of a class. I think of them as “fun and fast” games. These activities take no preparation and the goal is simply to re-enter material and have fun with the language. I had a set of games and books that I used the same way when I was teaching my children Spanish at home. There were times when we were particularly busy as a family or had other stresses and I simply wanted my kids to have consistent exposure to the language.
This short, entertaining activity can be used as a review of color words in Spanish. It is a good example of a “fun and fast “ activity. The concept is simple and engaging: move the monkey to different colored circles to hear different music and watch the monkey dance. There are also smaller black circles with sound effects. The animation and sound make this activity fun enough that children move the monkey to different colors several times, so there is plenty of opportunity for repetition.
Click here for an activity to practice the color words in Spanish.
To talk about the colored circles you can use sentences like these:
Todos los colores tienen sonidos diferentes. / All the colors have different sounds.
Ahora el mono está en el verde. Ponlo en el amarrillo. / Now the monkey is on green. Put him on yellow.
Pon el mono en el rojo. / Put the monkey on red.
Me gusta esa música. / I like that music.
El mono baila bien. El mono baila bonito. / The monkey dances well.
Al mono le gusta el verde. / The monkey likes green.
Mira como el mono mueve las manos. / Look how the monkey moves his hands.
Mira como el mono mueve los pies. / Look how the monkey moves his feet.
Escuchemos el azul otra vez. / Let’s listen to the blue again.
Muévelo a otro círculo. / Move him to another circle.
Cambialo a otro circulo. / Move him to another circle.
¿Cuál es tu color favorito? / What is your favorite color?
Pon el mono en tu color favorito. / Put the monkey on your favorite color.
El mono es chistoso. / The monkey is funny.
Use sentences like these to talk about the small black circles with sound effects:
Me gusta ese sonido. / I like that sound.
Es un perro ladrando. / It’s a dog barking.
Es un bebé llorando. / It’s a baby crying.
Es un sibalto. / It’s a whistle
Es una oveja. / It’s a sheep.
These are the colors in the activity:
el amarillo – yellow
el anaranjado – orange
el azul – blue
el morado – purple
el negro – black
el rojo – red
el rosado – pink
el turquesa – turquoise, blue-green
el verde – green
