Looking for a last-minute activity to do with your kids? How about a fun learning game? I created this Spanish conversation hearts memory game for the kids to learn some new Valentine-themed Spanish words. This game can be customized to your child’s needs too.

Here is what you’ll need to create your own:

• Scissors
• 8 card stock squares measuring 4×4
• Heart shape to trace
• Marker

Let’s get started!

• Trace and cut the heart on each square.
• Choose 4 Spanish words to use in your game.

Customizing your game:

Write each one of your words twice – one on each heart (you will have 2 matching hearts). Or write the word in Spanish on one heart and in English on the other heart

We used the following words: amistad, amor, beso, and amigo.

Arrange on a flat surface and let’s get ready to play!

It was the perfect activity to play while we waited for lunch to finish cooking. My kids enjoyed learning the words as we played. We pronounced them in Spanish and explained the meaning in English.

I hope this game encourages bilingual play and that a few new words are learned too.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

January is over and Valentine’s is right around the corner. As I’ve said before I’m not a huge fan of this celebration, but I do think it’s a great time to do fun things with my kids. So I loved the idea of creating our own messages in Spanish on the large conversation hearts by Brach’s pictured above.

I figured that it’d be not only fun, but it’d be a great Spanish vocabulary lesson for my kids.

First, I showed them the idea concept behind the conversation hearts and I gave them an example by writing the word AMOR on one of them with the red food-safe pen that comes in the box. Then, I told them that before we got started we had to come up with a list of words related to love, friendship and Valentine’s Day in Spanish. We had so much fun coming up with words!

In all honesty, I figured most of them would come from Vanessa, since she’s the eldest. But boy was I in for a big surprise! It was actually my 3.5-year-old son who came up with the majority of the words on our list. Check them out:

Vanessa wasn’t too thrilled, but then she came up with a few phrases herself (such as ¿me quieres? and eres mi amor) and we were ready to get started. My first-grader did an amazing job writing these words onto the conversation hearts. (And her little brother has fun scribbling on them too!) So not only did we get to brainstorm some vocabulary, but Vanessa had a chance to practice writing all these words in Spanish too.

I must say I that my favorite part of Brach’s Conversation Hearts, which are available exclusively at your local Walmart, is their large size — perfect for little hands with plenty of space for those just learning to write. ¡Quedaron súper lindos!

Check out all the Valentine’s goodies we have for you here and our Valentine’s Pinterest board is really cute too!

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.