In our family, card games and language go together. Whether we are playing escala cuarenta in Peru or cribbage in Wisconsin, there is constant banter and conversation. When my kids were little, simple card games often led to delightful interactions. Now that they are older, I appreciate the language and social skills they learned from the games.

Children of any age can play Batalla de Velocidades and Batalla de Tamaños. They are based on the traditional game La guerra (War) in which two players each have a stack of cards and turn over the top card at the same time. The higher card takes the lower card. If the cards are the same, players put three cards face down and then another face up. The higher value card takes all of the others.

With these printable cards, kids compare the speeds of animals or the area of countries. The information is on the cards, so the comparison is easy. Before they start, players decide which cards are going to have more value. Bigger and faster do not have to win. As children know from Aesop’s Tortoise and the Hare fable, the fastest animal does not always win the race. They can choose to have slower animal cards take faster animal cards and smaller countries be of more value than larger countries.

There are 12 animal speed cards and 17 country area cards. To play, print 4 sets on card stock and cut them apart for a total of 48 animal cards or 68 country cards. The cards are in black and white, so kids may want to color them.

The PDF’s below include information about using articles (el, la) with country names and about agreement when numbers are used as adjectives.

Click here for the printable Animal Speed Cards (Batalla de Velocidades)

Click here for the printable Country Size Cards (Batalla de Tamaños)

Speaking Spanish with Kids as You Play

Depending on the age of the players and their level of Spanish, you may want to talk about the vocabulary and the numbers before you play. Kids do not have to say any numbers to play the games. They can tell which card wins just by looking at the numbers. The information is interesting though, and the country cards in particular are a low-pressure way to practice saying large numbers.

If the vocabulary is new, talking about the words before you play lets kids hear the words pronounced correctly. For children who read in English and are learning Spanish, there is a tendency for written language to influence their pronunciation, especially with cognates like Japón and Rusia. Batalla de Tamaños is an excellent way to learn the names of countries in Spanish and how to pronounce them.

In addition to vocabulary and numbers, children will practice comparisons with these games. Below are examples of sentences you can use as you play.

Batalla de Velocidades  (Animal Cards)

La jirafa corre más rápido que el cerdo.
El elefante es más veloz que la ardilla.
El león le gana al conejo.
Gana el león.
La cebra corre 40 millas por hora. El ratón corre 8 millas por hora. La cebra le gana al ratón.
La cebra no corre tan rápido como la chita.
El canguro corre más despacio que el caballo.
El caracol es muy lento. Es más lento que la ardilla.

Batalla de Tamaños  (Country Cards)

Rusia es más grande que Egipto.
Canadá le gana a Estados Unidos.
Gana el Perú.
Italia es más pequeña que la India.
Estados Unidos es más grande que la Argentina.
El Perú es más pequeño que la India.
Kenia tiene 224,081 millas cuadradas.

Voltea una carta.
Yo gané.
Tú ganaste.

You can make cards for other animals and countries to add to the sets. Of course, these cards can be used for other games too. So, when summer afternoons get long and kids are looking for something to do, try a game of Batalla de Velocidades or Batalla de Tamaños and have some summer fun en español.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

Miren, lo que vamos a hacer es esto. Vamos a compartir primero un poco de cómo nos fue el año pasado. Y después, cada uno va a decir lo que espera del año que viene.

That would be my youngest daughter speaking, a natural organizer who believes strongly in the power of reflection, sharing, family and language. We were in a small town south of Lima, Peru ringing in 2012. At her direction (yes, that really was her tone), all of us – friends and family from many countries and generations – offered thoughts on the year that was ending and our wishes for the one to come. It was a perfect way to end the year and start another.

New Year’s Eve is a wonderful opportunity to share our memories and our hopes with people who are important to us. If your child speaks Spanish or is learning Spanish, it is also an opportunity to use the language in a supportive environment.

Not every family has someone as dedicated to organizing a group as my daughter is, so I made a printable activity to help you get started. To fill some of the time before midnight and make the sharing process easier, kids (and adults too) can write answers to the questions. Then the group shares their thoughts.

Click here to print the New Year’s activity.

Here are a few tips for using the activity with Spanish language learners:

- Before you start, point out to kids that most of the questions can be answered with one or two words such as a place, a person’s name or a verb.
- Make sure that children understand the prompts. Focus on key words like lugar interesante, feliz, and triste. Give examples to make the meaning clear.
- Encourage kids to write their answers. Even if they know what they plan to say, writing it will help them process the meaning of the question and their answer more deeply. It will also come in handy when it is their turn to share if they forget what they were going to say.
- Modeling is important. Fill out your own sheet as your child does hers. Read the prompts out loud and talk about your answers as you record them. Encourage other family members and friends to participate too.
- When you are ready to share your answers, choose a time and place without too many distractions.
- If you have a number of people, you can draw names, go around the room or go from youngest to oldest to determine who speaks next.
- Everyone does not have to share everything. Start with one prompt for everyone. Then go on to another. Jump to a hope for the coming year if the group starts to get restless.

Children learning Spanish need the chance to speak the language with different people and in different situations. Filling out the New Year’s activity lets them think about what they are going to say and ensures that they will be able to participate successfully. Their answers also makes a great keepsake; years from now, they will be a fun way to remember 2012.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

¿Puedes contar de 20 a 1 y escribir tu nombre a la vez? ¡Inténtalo!

With the days getting colder in parts of the country, some of us are having to spend more time indoors. Inténtalo is a silly indoor game to keep kids laughing, moving and thinking in Spanish.

The activity uses a homemade spinner with actions. Spin the spinner twice and then try to do the two actions at the same time. You can adapt the actions for younger children and add harder ones for older kids. The game is simple y muy divertido!

Click here for a printable spinner and instructions on putting it together.

These are the actions on the spinner:
Frotarte la panza – Rub your tummy
Escribir tu nombre – Write your name (Little ones can just color.)
Tocar tus pies – Touch your toes
Hacer rebotar una pelota – Bounce a ball (Little ones can throw a ball.)
Brincar en tu lugar en un solo pie – Hop on one foot (Little ones can jump with both feet.)
Contar de 20 hasta 1 – Count backwards from 20 to 1 (Little ones can count up.)
Darte palmaditas en la cabeza – Pat your head
Dar vueltas – Spin around

Like most games, Inténtalo can be a good language activity. Just be sure to reinforce the actions your child is doing with lots of Spanish: Estás tocando los pies. Ahora escribe tu nombre. ¡Lo hiciste!
Describe what you are doing when it is your turn: Me estoy frotando la panza. Ahora voy a dar vueltas. ¡Fácil!
Also, use normal game vocabulary in Spanish as you play:
Te toca. - It’s your turn.
Me toca. - It’s my turn.
Dale vuelta a la ruleta. – Spin (the spinner).

Simple, fun activities like this one make speaking Spanish fun and help the winter fly by. ¡Te toca a ti!

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

Un dragón, un par de zapatos rojos, una manzana.  We pulled these words from our story jar the other day and I ended up telling the story del dragón al que le encantaba el color rojo over and over.

Not every story is the hit that el dragón was, but a story jar adds a bit of randomness and fun to storytelling. It is a jar with words on small pieces of paper, folded so you cannot see the word. Someone draws two or three words and the storyteller incorporates those elements into a story. I have lots of colored scrap paper from preschool Spanish projects, so our story jar is pretty bright. The unrelated words you draw give a little inspiration, and challenge, to the storyteller and add an element of anticipation for the listeners.

In our jar, we put in words like these: lluvia, un dentista, un elefante, un gatito, el color azul, una isla, un teléfono, una princesa, nieve, el número 15, monedas de oro, un avión, una ballena, un circo and lots of other characters and objects.

When we pulled out un dragón, un par de zapatos rojos, and una manzana, the story was of a dragon that loved the color red. He only had red clothes, red toys, red food, red crayons and red paint. That is, until he met a neighbor who loved yellow…

 Telling these stories is a creative activity. If you are the storyteller, you can add patterns and sequences. The same characters can reappear in the stories, so that the storytelling jar starts to take on a life of its own. As always, if the little ones like a certain story, be prepared to tell it over and over!

Listening to stories and telling their own, children learn to structure a narrative. They also practice important language skills like describing, sequencing and cause and effect. We have a wonderful time with this simple activity. It is fun to tell the stories, very entertaining to listen to them and an excellent way to build Spanish language skills.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

For many families, the coming months are filled with gatherings, family and muchísimo español. Playing question games together provides an opportunity to tell family stories, talk about our values and laugh together. Of course, you know your friends and family, but this simple question game will help you all get to know each other aun mejor.

This printable board game is a fun Spanish language activity for children. Many children love to have the floor and answer questions about themselves. Playing with family and friends, they get to talk about their ideas and experiences with people who are important to them. For Spanish language learners, you can add questions at any level. They can be as simple as ¿Cuál es tu libro favorito? or as complicated and conceptual as you like. Also, the structure of board games includes everyone equally. More reserved children (and adults) have a chance to share and others have the opportunity to listen.

The game has a set of 24 question cards. If you want to make more and need ideas, there are many lists of “conversation starter” questions online. Print the game board and cards on cardstock and laminate them if you want them to be more durable.

Click here for the printable game board with instructions. Click here for the question cards.

There are two simple ways to play.

1) Players move ahead by rolling a die and following any instructions on the square. Just take turns rolling, drawing a question card, answering. The first one to the meta wins.

2) You move ahead by rolling a die. If you land on a blue square, you answer the question yourself. If you land on a green square, you ask the question to someone else. If you land on a pink square you can choose to answer the question yourself or ask someone else. The first one to the meta wins.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

It is natural for our chiquitos to play with the sounds of language and for us to play along. If you have little ones, you probably find yourself silabeando together – pronouncing words syllable by syllable.

In Spanish, syllables define how to read, spell and accentuate words. Because syllables are so important, they are the basis for learning to read. In English, children learn to “sound out” individual letter sounds, but in Spanish children “sound out” syllables.

Being able to separate words into syllables is an important prereading skill, so activities that help children learn to divide words by syllables get them ready to read. Also, syllable games are divertidos!  Try simple ones like these:

- Clap out the syllables in a word, with one clap for each syllable.

- Chant words and phrases in time with your steps (ca-mi-na-mos).

- Recite rimas de sorteo, or counting-out rhymes, to start a game, choose between two things, or just for fun. Tin Marín is probably the best known rima de sorteo, but you might want to try these other short rhymes:

El cielo es azul.
¿Cuántos años tienes tú?

Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul.
Dime ¿cuántos años tienes tú?

Manzana, manzana
manzana podrida.
Uno, dos, tres, salida.

En la casa de Andrés
todos cuentan hasta tres.
Uno, dos y tres.

En la casa de Francisco
todos cuentan hasta cinco.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro y cinco.

Counting the number of syllables in a word is another way to practice this important prereading skill. Try these simple games with your niños:

-Take turns choosing a number (1, 2 or 3) and finding something in the room with that number of syllables.

-Choose a number and alternate saying words with that number of syllables.

-Play Veo, veo (I Spy) and give information about the number of syllables to help your child guess: Veo algo verde con dos sílabas.

- Sort pictures by the number of syllables. Click here for a printable Cuenta sílabas game with pictures. To play, cut out the pictures. Take turns choosing one and putting it in the correct place on the game board. The number of stars indicates the number of syllables.

The structure of Spanish makes it natural to use syllables to learn to read. Parents can help prepare children for that important step jugando y silabeando juntos.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this article. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

When they were little, my children made comecocos with all kinds of messages and fortunes inside and played the game with their amiguitos. This traditional toy is made of folded paper and is also called a sacapiojos. In English, it is called a cootie catcher, a chatterbox or a fortune teller.

You can make a comecocos for Spanish learners of any level. It is an excellent language activity because kids speak, hear and read Spanish as they play.

If you are not familiar with the game, it involves folding paper to make a toy that fits over a child’s fingers and opens and closes. A friend chooses a picture or color on the outside and the child with the comecocos opens and closes the toy as she spells the word. For example, if the friend chooses green, she opens and closes it five times as she spells out v – e – r – d – e. Then, the friend chooses a number from the inside and the child opens and closes the toy as she counts to that number. Finally, they lift the flap to find a saying or a prediction. You can make a comecocos to answer questions by putting answers like sí, no, tal vez, and ¿quién sabe? on the inside. Kids also love simple predictions like these:

• Se resolverá un conflicto.
• Tu deseo se cumplirá.
• Un regalo tuyo le hará muy feliz a alguien.
• La buena fortuna te espera.
• Te invitarán a un evento emocionante.
• Viajarás a muchos lugares hermosos.
• Tu futuro inmediato trae algo emocionante.
• Algo que se te perdió pronto reaparecerá.
• Te espera una sorpresa agradable.

A comecocos is easy to make. Click here for a blank game with fold lines and instructions. Then write in words, add drawings or use stickers to make your game. If you want to see a video of how to fold them, just search “cootie catcher” on YouTube.

You can click here to print a finished comecocos with positive messages inside. If your niños are just learning Spanish, this game is a fun way to practice personal information questions. Click here for a comecocos with questions for beginning language learners. There are folding instructions on both of the games.

¡Que se diviertan jugando y hablando español!

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

Finding Spanish language picture books was a huge challenge when my chiquitos were chiquitos. The books I could find were often bad translations, and they were carísimos! I bought books in Mexico, but it was impossible to bring back enough. So, I translated stories as I read and searched endlessly for more.

This frustrating situation led me to explore picture books without words and I quickly came to appreciate the power of reading wordless picture books in Spanish. Even if you have access to children’s books in Spanish, wordless books provide a rich, interactive language experience. A 2011 Utah State University study found that these books promote more discussion than books with words and noted that “more complex language and interactions were present.” In other words, picture books without words are an excellent way to speak Spanish with your niños.

Parents sometimes think of wordless picture books as being for very young children, but these books tell complicated, fascinating stories. If you have read wordless picture books, you know how the illustrations tell the whole story, rather than just supporting the text. Children follow what is happening by identifying characters, emotions, actions and consequences.

Reading a wordless picture book in Spanish, you can use language your child understands and she can help contar el cuento. It is important to take time to talk about the pictures, follow up on what your child says, make connections and ask questions. Reading this way is fun, and your chiquitos will get lots and lots of Spanish.

Suggestions for reading wordless picture books with Spanish learners

- If your child is beginning to learn Spanish, talk about the pictures using simple sentences. You do not have to explain the whole story in detail. She will understand what is happening from the pictures.

- Children learn from patterns and repetition. Repeat sentence structures and words throughout the story.

- Include dialog. Imagine what the characters might say.

 - Start by telling the story simply and add more detail when your child is familiar with the book.

- Expand on words your child knows by using synonyms.

- Encourage your child to help tell the story. Beginning learners can contribute a key word. With children who speak more Spanish, you can alternate pages. Many kids want to read the whole story once they are familiar with the book.

There are many beautiful picture books without words. Here is a printable list of some of my favorites, and your librarian will be happy to help you find others.

Wordless picture books can provide a rich Spanish language experience. However, wordless books by Latino authors/illustrators are hard to find, so the cultural dimension is usually missing. Fortunately, authentic Spanish language picture books are becoming more available, offering our niños both language and culture. Picture books without words are a wonderful way to supplement authentic literature and spend time speaking Spanish with your child.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this article. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

Grocery shopping with los chiquitos is not always easy, but the store is an excellent place to speak Spanish with children. They are close to you, often right at eye-level if they are small enough to ride in the cart. Also, the language tends to be focused, la comida, and kids can see and touch the things you talk about.

This paper plate shopping list is a great way to take advantage of the setting and the time you spend with your child in the grocery store. Children associate the words they hear with the pictures and with the things you put in your basket or cart. A paper plate is light and easy to hold, even for small children. They fold down the pictures as they find each item on the list.

Making the list is facilísimo! Around the edge of a paper plate, glue pictures of things you need to buy. Click here for printable pictures of common grocery items. Cutting and gluing is a good language activity; talk about the pictures together as you do this step with your child. Cut between the pictures, so that your child can fold them down y listo!

Of course, you can put other pictures, letters or symbols around the edge of the plate for kids to look for when you are running errands.

Here are a few ideas:

- Use markers and put colors around the plate. Kids find an object for each color.
- Write the alphabet around the edge and look for words that start with each letter. With a few letters, like la ñ, it is easier to find a word that contains the letter.
- Draw shapes. Kids find an object for each shape.
- Use clip art to make a list of things you might see: un carro, una bici, un perro, una flor, una casa, un autobus, unas escaleras, un bebé, una persona con lentes.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

Y ahora pon el gatito en el techo de la casita.
A ver, ¿son igualitos?
¡Sí! ¡Perfecto!

Bueno, it does not always work out that perfectly, but Igualitos is fun, and we always speak lots of Spanish!

Igualitos (Just the Same) is my name for this cooperative game. It is what language teachers call a barrier game; players have the same materials and exchange information without seeing what the others are doing. Playing Igualitos, you work together to make the same picture or arrangement of objects. It is an excellent way to speak Spanish with your chiquitos.

You can play Igualitos with household objects, pictures, stickers or by drawing. Everyone has the same materials and one player gives instructions to the others, or players take turns. You work together to make the sets igualitos, ¡pero sin mirar! You can make a barrier with a book or sit back to back.

A few ways to play Igualitos

You need a set of objects or pictures for each player.
- Put pictures into a scene. Click here for a printable scene and pictures. You will need to print two copies. Inexpensive stickers work well too, and packages often have several identical sheets.
- Collect small objects (plates, cups, spoons, straws, napkins, apples, etc.). Arrange the objects and give instructions to make the same arrangement.
- Put pictures or objects in a row and give instructions to put them in the same order.
- Cut out paper shapes of different colors. Make a pattern and give instructions to make the same pattern. This works well with stringing colored beads, too.
- Print simple coloring sheets (search draw the details coloring pages). Give instructions as you add details to the pictures.
- Use memory cards to play Igualitos with two players. Give one of each pair to each player. Arrange the cards and give instructions to put them in order.
- Use toys like Mr. Potato Head, the Cootie game, Legos or blocks to play. Describe the piece you are putting on and where to put it.
- For older kids, you can use maps to play Igualitos. Print two copies and draw a route giving instructions as you go.
- Make a grid (3×3 or 4×4). Use stickers or give instructions to draw simple objects in different squares: En A-4, pon un sol. Dibjua una cara feliz en C-1.

Tips for playing Igualitos with children learning Spanish

- If you are printing pictures, use cardstock to give them more weight. You can also put a tiny piece of double-sided tape on the pieces so they do not move too easily.
- Explain that you are trying to make the same picture or arrangement of objects.
- Before you begin, talk about the pictures together so that your child hears the words.
- Start with five objects or pictures. Add more when your child understands the game.
- At first, give instructions to your child so she will hear the language. This will help her when it is her turn to give instructions.
- When you have placed all the pictures, take away the barrier and compare. ¿Son igualitos? Talk about any differences.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.