Hispanic Heritage Celebrated on Kids TV

Image courtesy of the Disney Channel

Hispanic Heritage Month is here, and what better time to teach our kids a little more about our history. Since we Latinos are very diverse, it’s great to be able to teach our kids a little more about not only our family’s history, but about the history of Latinos throughout North, Central, and South America, and all the beautiful islands in the Caribbean. See? We’ve got so much to cover!

Now let’s face it, our kids love to watch TV, more than we’d like them to sometimes. So this month why not take advantage of all the programming that will be honoring Hispanic and Latino culture. We’ve been paying attention to all the channels that will be airing special shows in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Image Courtesy of the Disney Channel

This month Disney Junior will be airing a special episode of “Special Agent Oso” featuring guest stars Rita Moreno, Rico Rodriguez and Raini Rodriguez. Plus,  a brand new 45-minute ”Handy Manny Great Garage Rescue” special premiering Monday, October 3rd and featuring guest stars Ed O’Neill (“Modern Family”), Freddy Rodriguez (“Ugly Betty”), George Takei (“Star Trek”) and Harold Perrineau (“Lost”) alongside series star Wilmer Valderrama.

In addition to that, Disney Channel and Disney Junior started airing on September 15 a series of spots called “This is me” that feature real kids talking about their heritage and traditions.

Disney XD will introduce new spots with stars Ryan Ochoa from “Pair of Kings” and Mateo Arias from “Kickin It” discussing their family traditions. It’s great for our kids to see actors out there they can relate to and who are proud of their heritage.

Discovery Kids en Español will be taking a more historical approach to Hispanic Heritage Month, airing a series of short programs that feature the lives of  four Latin American heroes that fought for freedom in some of our  countries: General Simon Bolivar, Benito Juarez, Francisco de Paula Santander, and Jose Marti. The whole family can learn a little more about the lives of these four heroes when the series airs.

After we’ve enriched our minds with Latino history we can head on over to Discovery Familia with our kids for a game of “atuendos tradicionales” {pictured above}

Nick Jr‘s heritage page has various activities for your kids, one of those activities being Hispanic Heritage Hero trading cards that are a fun way to make sure all those history facts they’re learning stick.

Now, SpanglishBaby parents are not exempt. PBS is celebrating Hispanic Heritage with a great lineup of programs to entertain and examine our history, cultural contributions, and heritage. On September 30th, you can catch the likes of Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan and José Feliciano at the concert that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted, In Performance at the White House “Fiesta Latina.”

There is a lot on the agenda for Hispanic Heritage month, but maybe the best part of it all will be to enjoy this month with our niños and pass on more of our cultura to them.