A few weeks ago a reader asked us on our Facebook wall if we could recommend una canción del alfabeto that was fun, upbeat and didn’t include the ch, ll, or rr. One quick search lead me to Basho and Friends and their “Orale, el alfabeto” song. Both the animation and the song are very simple, yet engaging and not overwhelming for kids. Actually, their version of the alfabeto song is quite catchy.

Check it out for yourselves…

Basho and Friends “believes that music is universal and brings people together.” We agree! Check out their site for songs and videos in Spanish, English, Mandarin and French.

Another multi-level, multilingual app, Mr. Mouse from Chocolapps is a great spelling and vocabulary resource. In six languages and three levels, your kids can learn themed vocabulary, including First Words and Fruits & Vegetables.

The objective is to spell as many words as possible correctly so as not to wake Mr. Mouse, the sleepwalking mouse whose dreams provide clues for players.

Mr. Mouse is just one of many educational apps from Chocolapps, which offers a helpful parents’ community.

Find Mr. Mouse in iTunes

Available for iPad and iPhone

Recommended for ages 4-8

Price: $1.99

Check out more from Chocolapps on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Apps that teach letters and numbers or read us interactive books are fun…but what about going above and beyond the basics? Now, we can have a companion in guiding our young readers (1^st – 3^rd graders) to an understanding of Spanish phonics and spelling. Spanish Word Wizard: Spanish Talking Movable Alphabet with Spell Check + Spelling Tests is a great app to supplement formal Spanish lessons, or as an introduction to the sounds of el alfabeto.

The Spanish version of the acclaimed Speak ‘N’ Spell for the iPad Generation, this app talks in customizable voices (your kids can change the pitch of the speaker’s voice), features cursive and block letters for practice recognizing both, and multiple levels of predefined spelling lists, as well as the option to create your own.

I particularly love that this app demonstrates the effect that accents have on Spanish words. If you choose an unaccented letter when an accent should in fact be used, you can hear how the word would sound without the accent. The app is comprehensive in its stress of the all-important stresses in the Spanish language!

Even my husband, a native Spanish speaker, found himself loving the challenge of spelling in a language he rarely uses for writing. It’s an excellent tool for all ages — like having your very own Spanish spelling bee at home!

Find Spanish Word Wizard: Spanish Talking Movable Alphabet with Spell Check + Spelling Tests!  in iTunes

Available for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Recommended for ages 3 to 10

Price: $2.99

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Alphabet Picture Book/Bilingual Alphabet Picture Book

As a familia, we made this picture book for my son when he was three.  He LOVES this book.  Two years later, he still sits down and looks through this book but now being able to recite the alphabet as he flips the pages! It totally makes my day when I see him flipping through it.

Keep it simple, is my advice to you when making this.

I had tons of ideas flowing through my head when I started on this project.  I don’t scrapbook, but in my head I was thinking this will be my great debut to scrapbooking.  After much thought I decided to keep it simple, my husband and son helped me make it.  It’s definitely not going to win any major scrapbooking awards, but my son knows we All worked hard on it and made it with mucho amor.

Supplies:

Clear Contact Paper or take it to get laminated

glue

scissors

stickers

book rings

15 scrapbook paper sheets/construction paper

pictures lots of them

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Look over your pictures and come up with a list people, objects, etc…  that will work for each letter in the alphabet. Get silly and creative. For example, for the letter E we used this silly picture below and said E is for Ewwww.  He loved it!  If you´re doing a bilingual book use A for Abuelita, B for Burro…..

2. Cut 15 sheets of paper the same size. These will be your ABC pages and front and back cover.

3. Start cutting out pictures and glue them on.

4. Use your stickers to embellish the pages.  I used alphabet stickers for each page.

5. Laminate each page with clear contact paper.

6. Hole punch your pages and add book rings.

This is a great gift idea for grandchildren for all those crafty abuelita’s or even for a babyshower gift!

Screen shots from Toddler Spanish: My First Words

I love technology!  Not only is it fun to use, but my students love when I use it in the classroom.  Whenever, I assign a project, I try to incorporate technology since it engages and stimulates the students.  Learning Spanish becomes more meaningful and exciting in the lives of young people when modern technology is incorporated into a lesson.

Recently I have discovered that this same phenomenon occurs with my own sons.  Inspired by Ana’s posts on the educational apps on the iPhone, I found apps for my android phone that my young children love to play.  Since these apps also use Spanish, they really support my efforts at raising bilingual children.

Toddler Spanish:  My First Words {$.99 Introductory Price}

This app is fun, and features simple navigation with arrows and flick gestures.  Even my baby at a year and a half has figured out how to use it.  Children are introduced to words and images completely in Spanish.  There are a hundred different vocabulary words, and all are accompanied by a beautiful picture.  The diverse vocabulary selection includes everyday images and pictures that appeal to toddlers such as animals.  Your child can use this app on their own, or you and your child can go over the images and vocabulary together.

Alfabeto Flash Cards for Kids {Free}

My three year old had learned most of his letters, but he was still mixing up M and W and forgetting X, B, and V.  No matter how many times we reviewed the letters, he would still get them wrong.  This app helped him to learn the rest of his letters, and it further reinforced the letters that he did know.  Children can scroll through the letters in alphabetical order or tap the die icon to randomly display the letters.  I love that the letters display both the capital and lower case letters.  The letters are also pronounced in Spanish.  By touching the corner of the flashcard, it is possible to flip the card to hear and see a picture of an object that starts with that letter.  For example, your child will hear and see the letter A, and can flip the card to read and hear the word abeja on the back of the card.

eFlash Spanish {Free}

This app is the favorite of my three year old.  It has so many different categories for him to choose from—the alphabet, parts of the body, colors, animals, clothing, and food.  The app prompts the child to select an image from a group of four.  I love that all prompts and suggestions are in Spanish.  There are over 450 words making this app a wonderful vocabulary building game.

Kids Numbers and Math {$2.99}

I started out with the lite version of this app since it was free, but liked it so much that I bought the deluxe version.  This app includes various activities for helping students learn numbers, addition, and subtraction.  The games are great and this app can be used from very young children to older children who are learning how to calculate simple mathematical equations.  The language option enables you to hear the numbers in French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that only the numbers are spoken in the other languages.  Overall, I am satifisfied with the app.  The games are good for learning, and my one year old absolutely loves the shake feature.  The sounds the phone makes when he shakes it is guaranteed to have him laughing with delight.

I have really enjoyed using educational apps with my children.  When I need a couple minutes to take a quick phone call or finish making dinner, my boys are happy to play on their own.  We have also had a lot of fun playing some of the games together.  Apps on my phone have been a fun way for us to interact in and learn Spanish.  I have found that technology can go a long way in supporting my children’s bilingual life.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJbHmgaeDM&feature=player_embedded

Anything that helps make mealtime at my house more fun and cute gets an A+ in my book. Add to that the fact that these chic Alphabet Placemats are bilingual, double-sided, heavy duty, washable and can be personalized with vibrant colors and by adding your kid’s nombre.

An ingenious mamá of three from Miami created a very special line of Alphabet Plates and Placemats that can be completely customized to make it a unique gift for your family or a special friend.  Just head over to the very easy to navigate online store and choose from the many options to create your own designer melamine plate to treasure.  The option to personalize the plates is genius enough, but she also realized the huge need for bilingual products to serve our multicultural families.  So, she decided to offer the option of choosing from six languages, including Spanish, to create custom placemats.

We have a double-sided one with the words for fork, napkin, cup, knife, plate and spoon in English in one side, and Spanish in the other.  You can have fun designing  and getting your own for $20, or you can win one here!  You know we like taking care of you like that.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now CLOSED.  Congratulations to the winners:  #10 MICHELE and #31 CHRYSA!

We’re giving away a 2-sided English/Spanish placemat in the color of your choice to TWO lucky winners.  This is a truly unique find.  To enter go to the Alphabet Plates website and tell us which color combination you want for your placemat if you win.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Friday, October 9th at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

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These cards are similar to the ones Ana Lilian reviewed here, except that instead of opposites, they illustrate the English alphabet on one side and the Spanish one on the other.

The Alphabet Learning Cards was the first toy we opened when we got the box from Ingenio and my daughter, Vanessa, had no problem calling out the name of whatever picture she saw on them. She did it all in Spanish and I’m happy to share she recognized most of the images except for “I for iglesia,” “M for manta” (we call it frazada), “Ñ for ñu,” (my bad, I had no idea it´s an animal, we´ve all learned!), “O for ovillo,” (she just called it bola), “W for walkie-talkie,” (I guess there are not too many words that start with W in Spanish) and “Y for yate” (she just called it bote).

She did have a little bit of a problem flipping back and forth through the cards and I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s a brand new toy. Again, it’s pretty sturdy, and maybe with time and usage, it’ll become easier to flip the cards over.

On a funny note, all of the images were colorful and easy to identify except for the one used for “nariz” which was kind of strange-looking. “¿Es un hueso? ¿Una cuchara?” Vanessa wanted to know. Also, it would be nice if the font used for the letters on the cards was a little bit bigger and if the Spanish alphabet included the “Ch” and the “Ll”–especially since Vanessa has such a hard time pronouncing the former!

I’ve been thinking a lot about starting to be more consistent about teaching Vanessa the alphabet and the numbers in Spanish. After reviewing all these bilingual educational toys, I believe I’m completely equipped to do so and that makes me happy! Thanks, Ingenio!

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner-Valerie R.!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Alphabet Learning Cards, which received Creative Child Magazine´s Seal of Excellence 2009, simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Tuesday, September 1st, at midnight EST.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

This bilingual Alphabet Learning Puzzle is one more of Ingenio’s games that has been cleverly created to satisfy a mom’s need to teach and her child’s need to play.  The 27 pieces that make up this puzzle give you two learning games in one box.  One side has the 26 letters of the English alphabet in a light blue background; flip it around to the white background and you have the 27 letters of el abecedario en español.

The puzzle is well constructed with sturdy pieces perfect for little hands.  We have fun putting it together and naming the objects in both languages.  I would like for this puzzle to include the CH and the LL as they are officially part of the Spanish alphabet and we do learn it when we sing la canción del abecedario. It would make the learning process more harmonious.  But, as I started off saying, she only cares about having fun. And fun she´s having.

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner:  Chrysa!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Alphabet Learning Puzzle simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Friday, August 27, at midnight EST.

Have a great Labor Day weekend and please come back on Monday for five more days of giveaways of Ingenio’s toys + games.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

When I heard about Ingenio, and the great bilingual toys and games they’ve created, I got extremely excited. You can probably imagine, then, just how much the excitement grew when this Spanglish mami witnessed her son putting Spanish words together.  No fuss, no saying “but mom” or “do I have to?”  Did I mention the words he was putting together where in Spanish?!?  And that he was having fun?!

Any company that helps a mamá make learning Spanish fun by making educational games like Spellable gets a G-R-E-A-T in my book.

Spellable is a new puzzle game created to help your child learn the alphabet, beginning sound words and spell three letter words in both English and Spanish. With its bright colored letters and fun picture cards it was an instant hit in our home.  My son is a proficient reader in English, but Spanish is still a work in progress for us.  Making it exciting to learn can be challenging.  With Spellable he was able to focus, look at the pictures and choose the correct letters to spell the words.  He was SO  happy when he spelled the words right that he soon started spelling more difficult words he found around the house.

What I love the most about Spellable is that it grows with your child, starting with the alphabet and working its way up to a reader.  Ingenio has it going on, specially with the very affordable price.  Go on, hurry to La Tiendita and get your Spanglish baby a new Spellable …. did I spell that right?

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

Today’s find, Spellable, was reviewed by Marcela Beatty, bilingual mom of a boy, a baby girl and two German Shepherds. Their cuteness is chronicled by Marcella on 8 Year Old & Babies.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our winner:  Susan Smoaks!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Spellable, winner of a Dr. Toy Best Vacation Product 2009 award, simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Wednesday, August 26, at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.