Printable Spanish Activities: Listen And Draw

“Y ahora, pon un círculo rojo alrededor del triángulo. Mira, ¡ya llegó tu comida.”  I used to entertain my kids waiting in restaurants or before appointments with drawing games where we gave Spanish instructions to each other. All we needed was paper and pencils and the game passed the time quickly. Below you will find a two of my printable Spanish activities to do a version of this game that I use in class.

I use these Spanish listening activities with instructions and pictures to re-enter vocabulary. The kids have a sheet with small pictures and crayons or colored pencils. I give them instructions like Haz una X azul en la casa or Dibuja una manzana roja encima de la mesa. These activities are easy to make, quick to do and the kids really like them. They can be adapted to any vocabulary and different levels.

Instructions for Listen-and-Draw

The easiest instructions to give, and for the kids to follow, use shapes, colors and prepositions. These are the kinds of instructions you can give. Take a look at the printable Spanish activities below for more examples.

Pon una X en el gato.
Haz un cuadrado negro alrededor del árbol.
Pinta el reloj con el creyón azul.
Dibuja un triángulo debajo de la mesa.
Pon una línea amarilla encima de la casa.
Pon una línea verde debajo de la casa.

You can also give instructions for kids to add something to a drawing. This is more fun, and uses more language in context, but keep it simple or the artists will get frustrated when you want to move on to the next instruction. Here are a few examples:

El árbol es un manzano. Dibuja tres manzanas en el árbol.
El gato está tomando el sol. Dibuja un sol encima del gato.
El caballo tiene hambre. Usa el creyón verde para darle pasto para comer.

Tips for Listen-and-Draw

– Review the vocabulary by talking about the pictures before you begin. This can be as simple as having kids point as you say ¿Ves el pez? ¿Dónde está la pelota?

– Review any shapes, colors or prepositions that kids might not be familiar with. You can draw shapes saying Este es un círculo, Este es un triángulo, Este es un rectángulo, etc. Since the words are cognates, if kids know shapes in English they will understand them right away.

– Even beginning Spanish learners can help give instructions or take turns giving instructions.
At first, you can choose the verb. For example, use pon. Let the child choose the shape ¿un círculo o una línea? Una línea. Muy bien., then the color ¿Una línea roja o una línea negra? Una línea roja, excelente. You can finish the instruction with whatever information is necessary. Pon una línea roja arriba del sol. (Put a red line over the sun).

If the kids are ready to give instructions themselves, limit the number of verbs (pon and haz work well), shapes and colors initially.

Links to printable Spanish activities – Listen and draw

These activities are easy to make and you can use the same pictures with different instructions. Here are a couple of my printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities with two sets of instructions for each. Of course, you will have to adapt the instructions for your class or your child, but they will give you an idea of some of the things you can do.

Printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities – Los animales – el pájaro, el gato, la vaca, el perro, el pato, el pez, la gallina, el caballo, el ratón, la oveja, el cerdo, la serpiente.

Printable Spanish listen-and-draw activities – La comida – las manzanas, el plátano, el pan, las zanahorias, la galleta, los huevos, las uvas, la hamburguesa, la leche, la pizza, la pera, el agua.