Back in the spring, I was invited by New Futuro to participate in a really cool event hosted by Que Rica Vida in Chicago with the purpose of providing information and tools to Latino parents to be able to help their kids succeed. Aptly named Infórmate y Edúcate, the free event conducted solely in Spanish was a huge success with over 500 people in attendance.

I must say I was honored to be in the company of some great Latina women who also participated in the event including Ileana Rodriguez, Vice President of College Board; Clara Lopez, Vice President of Children’s Programs and Services at El Valor; Dra. Isabel Gomez-Bassols, host of Univision Radio’s El Angel de la Radio; and Ana Martinez-Dassow, Founding Principal of Rowe Elementary. I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow Latina journalists Lucía Navarro and Dra. Marisa Azaret of CNN en Español. Oh, and I even got to meet Sonia Manzano, of Sesame Street fame. That was super cool!

But I must say that the highlight of the event was being able to talk to Latino parents (and their children) about the bilingual resources available online so they can help their children succeed. I was super happy to see a great turnout and even happier when the children started participating by asking questions and suggesting additional online resources to the ones I shared during my presentation.

Now that we’re all in Back to School mode, I figured it’d be a great time to share these resources with you. Some you might already know, but I bet you’ll find at least a couple new ones. I know I did while compiling the list. I’ve divided them into categories to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. I think these are great resources for anyone with bilingual kids, but especially for those of you with kids in dual language immersion schools.

Hope you find these resources helpful! Please feel free to add any others ones you and your children use so we can make this list even more comprehensive. ¡Gracias!

READING/WRITING

1) COLORIN COLORADO

2) EL RINCON DE LOS CUENTOS

3) READING IS FUNDAMENTAL (¡LEAMOS EN FAMILIA!)

4) BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL INTERNACIONAL PARA NIÑOS

5) PLAZA SESAMO

MATH/SCIENCE

1) AAA MATH

2) PBS PADRES — MATEMATICAS A TEMPRANA EDAD

3) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

SOCIAL SCIENCE

1) PROYECTO ILLINOIS EARLY LEARNING

2) MAPA HUMANO

GAMES/ACTIVITIES

1) CHILDTOPIA

2) PBS KIDS: MAYA Y MIGUEL

3) BRAIN POP

4) DISCOVERY FAMILIA

{Photo via IICD}

Wow..this was a short month! I feel I just finished writing last month´s, and the first one in the series, Educational Apps of the Month post. As I mentioned last time, most of the apps we´ve reviewed are for the iTunes apps platform just because that is what I use. However, Susan jumped in on the apps game and wrote a review of several Android apps for bilingual kids. Check it out.

Now on to our Educational Apps spotlight for February…

This month, TodoBebé–a leading global mom and family media company and creators of Viva La Famila (Univision)–launched a set of four apps, in Spanish and Portuguese, for children. These are all available only for the iPhone and iPad, but the Android versions are currently in development. They are:

1. TodoColores {$1.99}

This is your typical digital coloring book, but with the option of listening to the audio in Spanish or Portuguese. If you choose Aprende los Colores from the main menu, you will be taken to a color palette where your child can press on the color he likes and hear a voice say the name of the color and an object, with an accompanying picture, that represents it. If you choose Colorea, you’re taken to a vertical slide of fruits, animals and objects to paint. The images are simple and large enough for a toddler to be able to use. I love that you can brag about your pequeños digital art masterpiece by sending it via email, FB or Twitter. Go, flaunt it!

2. Oir+Aprender {$1.99}

This apps name describes perfectly what children will do with it: listen (Oir) to sounds and learn (Aprender) about them.  Sounds are divided into categories: transportation, animals, nature, home sounds, instruments and wild animals. The “Escuchar” game lets your kid press her finger on a figure and hear it make a sound.  The other option, “Identificar”, reverses the play by making the sound first and asking her to press on the figure that makes that sound.  Very simple, yet incredibly interactive.  Just make sure you´re not expecting a quiet moment because your child will most likely start growling like a león!

3. TodoFoto {Free}

Kids love seeing themselves on any screen.  With TodoFoto you can easily add frames and seals to your child´s beaming face and share it with friends and family via Facebook, Twitter and email.  The options for frames and seals is still very limited, but we hope to see more in future updates.  It would be great if the kids could add stickers and bling to the frames themselves.

4. Leer + Escribir {$2.99}

I had been looking exactly for an app like this since my daughter is starting to learn to write letters and numbers, as well as recognizing them.  Leer+Escribir gives you two learning options: Concepts and Writing.  With Concepts your child will hear a voice prompting them to press on the image that starts with the letter (or the number, if on that mode) on the screen.  I wished that the voice pronounced the letter when prompting, but she says it after the child has identified the corresponding object.  The illustrations are very clean, colorful and attractive for children.

On the Escribir game, children can learn how to trace letters and numbers.

I did find one more bilingual app that´s an extremely simple one to keep your younger toddlers entertained with safari animals:

BabySafari {$0.99}

I see this app in the hands of toddlers that don’t know how to use the touchscreen yet, but can be entertained by watching safari animals pop out while the background scrolls vertically. If they randomly touch the screen, they will get cute surprises. Make sure that you go to your devices main settings area to set this app to function in Spanish mode.

You´re next.  Have you found any educational kids apps–iTunes or Android–that you´re loving?  Please share with us!

Photo by Tinkrbrad

Some months ago I wrote a post featuring 9 handpicked apps for bilingual children; it has since become one of our most popular and shared posts.  Since then, more and more great educational apps for children have been created and we realized we needed to share our finds more consistently.  So, we’re starting a new monthly series where we’ll showcase a few of those educational apps we feel you will enjoy.  This time they are all iTunes based, but we plan on including Android apps as soon as we get our hands on some. (Update:  Android Apps for Bilingual Children post by contributor Susan Stephan.)  Problem is both Roxana and I only have iPhones, so we’ll need to figure out how to review the Android apps.

I also recently was presented with the results of a study commissioned by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and PBS KIDS Raising Readers, through an initiative funded by a Ready to Learn grant and the United States Department of Education that investigated young children’s usage and learning with mobile devices and apps.

The study concludes that some of the implications for the use of mobile media in education are:

1.  Optimize children’s time with mobile devices.

2.  Use mobile devices as supplemental tools.

3.  Surround children with high-quality educational resources. There’s definitely a “mobile media revolution” spreading around the globe, and our children are directly impacted by it.  I always prefer to embrace technology and understand it so I know how it affects my daughter and how we can use it effectively.  That’s the reason why I choose educational apps that she enjoys and that can help advance her learning.

3 Educational Apps We Recommend

1.  PBS Kids has been leading the way with a series of educational apps for the iPhone, iTouch and iPad based on some of their most popular shows. At 3, my girl is still a bit behind when it comes to letter-recognition and alphabet skills and I’ve found that watching Super Why! on PBS Kids, and playing with the app on my phone, has helped her advance in that area.  Since there’s nothing like Super Why! available in Spanish media–where kids can learn the super powers of words, reading and letters–we actually encourage her to watch this in English. With the Super Why! app, kids will play with their superheroes Alpha Pig, Princess Presto, and Wonder Red and “come to the rescue in four unique games using special powers such as alphabet skills, rhyming, spelling, comprehension and vocabulary.”

Download the SUPER WHY! app on the iTunes Store. 2.  Dinosaur Train is another popular PBS Kids series that promotes science and math skills for pre-schoolers through the adventures of a lovely family of dinosaurs.  The new app, DINOSAUR TRAIN Eggspress! complements the show’s educational objectives, while guiding children through three prehistoric eras and various exciting games including a Dinosaur egg hunt. Camila has seen the show a handful of times, but was really interested in the app because this week she’s learning about dinosaurs at pre-school and she’s been going around the house singing “Dinosaurs are really, really big.”  The apps skill level is just right for her age, recommended for 2-5 year olds.

The app is available from the App Store on iPhone and iPod Touch for just $2.99.

Recently released where Disney Channel’s first ever apps for preschoolers “Handy Manny’s Workshop” and “Flicker’s Flashcard Fiesta.” 3.  We actually downloaded  Handy Manny’s Workshop app on Papá’s iPad and the experience feels very dynamic.  The delightful animations, professional narration from the cast of the hit television series, cool sound effects, and all the “Handy Manny” characters will captivate preschoolers.  The app is made up of 5 different zones where your child can choose to play with puzzles, coloring pages, a memory matching game, a search activity and a sing-a-long video. The Handy Manny Workshop app is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for $2.99 from the App Store.

4.  Handy Manny Flicker’s Flashcard Fiesta app promotes language acquisition in Spanish and English for preschoolers, a personal fave of mine!  When you launch the app you will have the option to touch either the “Learn Spanish” or the “Learn English” button and then be taken to an immersion-experience with two interactive activities to choose from:  Word Bench Game and Flashcard Fiesta, with six categories of colorful flashcards to choose from.  This app is ideal for the bilingual child that is learning that every object has two names and to immerse them in both languages with one very fun game.

Handy Manny Flicker’s Flashcard Fiesta app is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for $2.99 at the App Store.

If you would like to check out these apps yourself, leave us a comment telling us which one you want to try out first and why.  We’ll give away four of the Disney Channel apps and two of the PBS Kids  apps to randomly selected winners.

Disclosure:  We received codes to download the apps for free in order to write the review.  All opinions are my own.

I just had another of those reality check moments that happen way too often once you become a mom.  I honestly thought my daughter would be bored by watching the Little Pim Spanish Eating and Drinking DVD we were sent because, well, she already understands Spanish since it´s the only language she hears at home.  If you visit our sister site, SpanglishBaby, you already know we´re raising her bilingually with what´s known as the minority language at home method.

I have to admit I was totally wrong.  She now constantly requests to watch “El Panda”, which would be the adorable Panda that takes you on a language journey in all Little Pim DVDs (in seven languages so far and seven more in the works).  My girl´s amused by the constant repetition of simple words and phrases that she already knows since they’re part of her everyday.  The excellently produced video rapidly engaged her into repeating the phrases out loud.  It also helps that the video features little kids in activities that are easily recognizable for children.

The 35- minute DVD is made up of seven five-minute series allowing you the flexibility of viewing with your baby or toddler just as much as you like.  Of course, mine sat through the whole thing and started asking for más as soon as the credits rolled.

This is an excellent video series for parents wanting their kids to learn basic vocabulary in any of the seven languages it´s available in.  I personally recommend the Spanish set for parents raising bilinguals using the one-parent/one-child method as one more tool to reinforce the language.  For parents, like Roxana and myself, that speak only Spanish at home and might be concerned that our kids aren´t getting enough exposure to English, it could be a good idea to watch the English/ESL video as well.

Oh, and this just in-last week Little Pim released their very first music CDs in French and Spanish.  The Little Pim Spanish Bop has 15 cheerful songs that highlight vocabulary taught on the DVDs. They just released it and we already have one for you to win!

If you become a Little Pim Fan on Facebook you’ll be the first to know about more special Little Pim contests and promotions just for bilingual families.

Find the Little Pim series on Amazon, via La Tiendita.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.  The winner is #22 Marcela!

We’re giving away a Little Pim set with the following to a lucky winner:

• One Spanish DVD

• One English DVD

• One Spanish Bop CD

For a chance to win this set (retail value of $50.85) visit the Little Pim Blog and tell us something fun you learned while you were there.

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 Sunday, September 20th, at midnight EST.

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

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Photo by ReyGuy

Not sure if my discovery is going to come as news to you, but I definitely had a cathartic moment when I discovered Aprende con Sesame on iTunes.

One of my best tricks for long car rides is to hand over my iPod to Camila so she can be entertained and mami can have some quiet time to attempt to put some thoughts together, or to at least watch the road ahead of me!

The challenge I’ve had is finding videos on iTunes that are both long enough to do the trick and also in Spanish. Seemed like a very unlikely wish to fulfill via iTunes since their children’s video and podcast catalog in Spanish is lacking, or, I should say, practically non-existant.

We already subscribe to both Dora and Diego podcasts  but those videos barely last longer than a minute. That means that as soon as it’s over Camila either hands the phone over to me asking (OK…demanding!) another video or she just throws it. Either way, not ideal driving conditions or conducive to my peace of mind.

Enter Sesame Street and Elmo to the rescue-en español!

Back in 2007, Sesame Workshop made available for free via iTunes a series of educational resource videos-Learn Along with Sesame-featuring the Muppets and cast of Sesame Street.  The series was created to be available in both English and Spanish in the US only (Sorry, for now it’s only available in the US iTunes store.)

The Spanish version is called Aprende con Sesame and has eight episodes available for free download.

Your kid will have a blast hearing Elmo, Telly, Big Bird and Rosita talk to each other in Spanish.  It’s probably new to him and you can use the opportunity to tell him that some of his favorite characters are learning or speaking Spanish, just like him!

From health and safety concerns to dealing with emotions and new situations, these videos engage and educate children and adults alike with the Muppets, lively music and the Spanish language.  Oh yeah, did I mention they all last an average of 25 minutes and can be easily downloaded to my iPod?  Yay!

I love the option of having over four hours of purely educational and free programming in Spanish at hand to watch on the computer, phone, video device, burnt on DVD, etc…

I would have included a video for you to preview the series, but iTunes has made it impossible to share even a snippet with you.  So, just head over there with the link below and start downloading to your heart’s and bandwith’s desire.

Aprende con Sesame

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This one goes out to all us nostalgic ones who grew up watching the fabulous Cantinflas in one way or another. This is an episode of his educational children’s cartoon, Cantinflas Show, also known in English as Amigos and Friends.

The cartoon series was created in Mexico in 1969. What’s amazing to me is that its message was way ahead of its time with multicultural themes to educate children about topics ranging from the pyramids to atomic energy and from Acapulco to Da Vinci.

The video we chose for you today is called Adopte un Arbol (Adopt a Tree). Our Amigo Cantinflas wants kids everywhere to learn about and love our trees.

If your kids have never seen Cantinflas, this is a perfect intro cartoon with a message that is still relevant. Older kids will love the fairy tale ending and Cantinflas’ wacky humor.

Que lo disfruten!!

Loved it? Visit La Tiendita to get a DVD with 40 of these classic Cantinflas Show cartoons.

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