I am a big fan of Little Pim‘s Spanish learning products, and this app is no exception. Learn Spanish with Little Pim: “Colors” is a newly released iPad app that introduces Spanish colors by mixing English and Spanish vocabulary.

There are a few different play modes, including Read Aloud and Question & Answer. It works like an ebook, with each page offering different options for interaction. One of the more fun options is for parents to record their own voices reading the book.

Kids can also color each page, save, and share the results.

Although this app is best suited for toddlers who are just learning Spanish color vocabulary, my 5-year-old enjoyed it and got to practice his noun-adjective agreement. He forgets to say, for example, “el globo amarillo” instead of “amarilla,” so Little Pim gives him a subtle reinforcement of the rules. Sometimes, kids take an adorable panda more seriously than their parents!

Find Learn Spanish with Little Pim: “Colors” in iTunes

Available for iPad

Recommended for ages 2-5

Price: $4.99

Check out my review of Little Pim’s Spanish digital downloads for more electronic learning fun.

Little Pim, creator of many excellent apps and language teaching resources, offers digital downloads to fill in that gap. These short films are perfect for preschoolers, and native Spanish speakers will enjoy them just as much as beginners. Each video combines real-life footage of children and their parents with animated scenes of Little Pim. While she narrates, the 60+ words of new vocabulary appear on the screen. Watch the movies straight through, or choose a chapter to see specific parts again.

Get Up and Go! Spanish         $9.99

Learn all about the routines of the day – meals, school, bedtime, bathtime, etc. – with this cute half-hour video.

Let’s Eat! Spanish                    $9.99

Not only does this digital download teach the nouns for all different kinds of food, but it uses them in complete sentences and includes important mealtime verbs.

Let’s Play! Spanish                  $9.99

This video presents all the words and phrases you need to discuss playtime, which is why it’s likely to be your child’s favorite of all the Little Pim videos.

Click on each individual link above to find the videos in iTunes.

Available for iPad, iPod, iPhone, and Android

Recommended for ages 0-6

Check out the preview on the Little Pim website for a sneak peek at the digital downloads.

 Little Pim, the cute panda who teaches foreign languages, is one of our favorite characters for Spanish-language education. We have reviewed several Little Pim resources in the past, including the Word Bag app.

This PBS Kids iPad app, Little Pim Spanish, follows with the award-winning quality of other PBS Kids products. It is a simple, effective way for preschoolers to learn new vocabulary – 60 words and phrases, in fact. Aimed at English-dominant children who are learning Spanish, Little Pim Spanish is narrated by the title character in English, with just the new vocab words being presented in Spanish. In this way, it also supports code-switching skills for those who may already be comfortable in Spanish.

Rather than just being a touch-responsive app with pages and pages of icons, this is an interactive game that is easy for kids to follow on their own. There are three categories of words with three levels each, progressing from nouns to verbs, then short phrases. Little Pim asks you to repeat the new word aloud, then reinforces it by having you find the item on the table and in a bubble.

If you love other Little Pim products or just want a fresh, engaging game for your 3-5 year old, this app is a great choice!

Find Little Pim Spanish in iTunes

Available for iPad

Recommended for preschoolers

Price: $2.99

Check out Little Pim’s other products and additional apps from PBS Kids as well as our list of favorite Spanish-language resources and online games from PBS Kids.

As many of you know, around this time last year, we started our trilingual adventures with Little Pim in an effort to teach Vanessa my third language, French. While I haven’t been as consistent as I would’ve liked to, Vanessa tells everyone who’s willing to listen that she speaks three languages!

The good thing about learning French with Little Pim (or any other of the nine languages they offer) is that it’s a complete package. They have the DVDs –  the episodes are short and really cute and it’s impossible not to fall in love with the little panda – the music (which Vanessa often requests at bedtime), the flash cards, and the apps. And now, they also have the books! I love these because Vanessa already recognizes Little Pim, the panda, and so she immediately associates it with French.

Although not yet available in all the languages, Little Pim has come out with two trilingual books – one about colors and the other about feelings – which are absolutely excellent for those of us trying to raise children in English, Spanish and French.

The colorful books featuring the adorable panda are hardcover and filled with flaps and tabs, which easily caught the attention of my daughter. While they’re probably too basic in Spanish and English, I can definitely use them to reinforce some of the vocabulary she already knows in these two languages in French, especially the book on feelings. I think she pretty much has the colors memorized and figured out.

I also love that the book on feelings has pictures of real kids making different faces to represent each feeling, just like the videos! All the vocabulary words also include a pronunciation guide, which makes it easy for practically anybody to read them.

Another great add to your Little Pim collection! 

THE GIVEAWAY!

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

We’re giving away one copy of of each of the books, Little Pim Colors and Little Pim Feelings, to one lucky winner.

To enter, just leave a comment telling us why you’d like to win these books and for whom.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Wed. Oct. 19 at midnight PST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Disclosure: We received a sample to review the product. All opinions are our own.

Photo credit: shankar, shiv

It’s hard to believe but three months have already gone by since we started our trilingual adventures with Little Pim. Today, I bring you my daughter Vanessa’s last progress report. But be on the lookout next week for our final Skype consultation with Little Pim founder, Julia Pimsleur, which will include an awesome giveaway of their products .

Last month I wrote about how proud I am that Vanessa seems to love languages just as much as I do. Just recently, her father got back from a trip to Israel and when he taught her a couple of words in both Hebrew and Arabic, her face completely lit up! Who would’ve known?

In the last month, we’ve continued watching her choice of our Little Pim DVDs and have continued to use bath time as French time, just like Julia recommended in our last Skype conversation. The added benefit of this is that I usually give both my children a bath at the same time, so my baby son is getting exposure to French without any effort whatsoever!

One thing we have started doing more regularly is listen to French music. I have the Little Pim French Bop CD in Vanessa’s player in her room and in my iPod in my car, so it’s always readily available. It’s funny how even though we’re huge supporters of music for language learning here at SpanglishBaby, I hadn’t really put this to use so intently since the beginning of our journey. I’m not sure why because Vanessa, like any child, absolutely loves music and dancing.

The best thing about Little Pim’s French Bop CD is that the tunes are super catchy and easy to follow. None of them is annoying – even after listening to it for the umpteenth time, unlike some children’s music out there. Vanessa already knew a couple of the songs on the CD, but since we started listening to the it on a regular basis, she’s learned quiet a few of them. Nothing better than the repetition of lyrics to help children learn new vocabulary words.

Now, whenever she catches a word she doesn’t know while listening to the music or trying to follow along by singing, she’ll ask me what it means. Or, sometimes – out of the blue – she’ll want to know how you say something particular in French. I love that she does this, except that sometimes I just don’t have the word she’s looking for and I have to make a mental note to look it up and come back to tell her. In fact, just yesterday, as I was reading my children a book about dinosaurs, Vanessa asked what these prehistoric animals were called in French.

I must say I’m very happy we have started this journey and I truly look forward to Vanessa’s – and eventually my baby boy’s – progress in her third language. My plan is to keep French in their lives making sure I keep it us fun as possible. I promise to write about it to let you know how our journey is moving forward.

In the meantime, if you’re thinking about introducing a third language in your household or you’re just interested in adding quality products to support the minority language in your family, I highly recommend you check out Little Pim. In case you didn’t know, all SpanglishBaby readers can get a 15% discount by using the code PIMBABY at checkout.

À bientôt !

Disclosure:  This post is part of a series of entries made possible by Little Pim.  The stories, outcomes, and opinions regarding this trilingual adventure are all our own.

Photo credit: whiteafrican

My daughter, Vanessa, loves languages. Nothing could make me happier because I love languages too!

We’re about a little over two months into our Trilingual Adventure with Little Pim – our journey to expose Vanessa to her third language: French, and I’m happy to report that things are going much better than I expected. I try to speak to her in French every single day, even if it’s not for an extended period of time. We either listen to Little Pim’s French Bop CD, watch one of the DVDs from the series, read the few books we have in French or I just simply reinforce the latest vocabulary she’s been learning by using it during our everyday conversations.

At the suggestion of Little Pim’s founder, Julia Pimsleur, during our last Skype consultation, I’ve made it a point to speak French while I give Vanessa a bath. I have to admit that I wasn’t too sure it was going to work out, but it has been an excellent tip.

Before I implemented this new “rule,” I explained what it was all about to Vanessa. I don’t think she was too convinced either, until we actually went to the bathroom for her bath. Julia had mentioned that she used to line up little toy animals on the ledge of the tub, call out each of their names, and her son would dump the correct one in the water. You can’t imagine how much fun this is for a child!

I decided to start with something a little bit easier because we haven’t gotten around to learning all the animals’ names yet. She only knows chat (cat) and chien (dog) from Little Pim’s flashcards and she also knows ours (bear) from a particular book we’ve been reading which I promise to write about very soon. Anyhow, to make sure she’d able to play without getting frustrated about not knowing the answer, I lined up a bunch of different colored blocks she has in the tub which go along with a bateau (boat) – she knows this word very well because she learned it during French summer camp.

I think we used about 6 or 7 different colors and I just called them out and had her dump each one in the water. She was in heaven and, after a couple of tries, got every single one of them right. To change it up a little bit, we’ve also been using her little rubber duckies which are all dressed up differently to play this game. Another variation has been for me to say a number and for her to count the duckies or block and dump the amount corresponding to the number. A few nights later, I decided bath time was a good enough time as any to introduce the names of body parts. Granted, she already knows a lot of them thanks to the ever-popular tête-épaules-genoux-et pieds song (head-shoulders-knees-and toes)! Either way, I’ve been introducing additional terms ever since. Vanessa is so into it that whenever I tell her it’s time for her bath, she always says something like: “Y es la hora de hablar francés, ¿verdad?” I guess I’m know experiencing what the time and place method is all about!

Since, as we all know, the best way to learn another language is to be exposed to it in fun and meaningful ways, I’ve been searching for other options in our journey to become trilingual. I know there’s a French playgroup quiet a bit north of where we live and I’ve been wanting to make it a point to go check it out because I truly believe in the power of playgprous. However, I really haven’t been able to find the time to make a commitment to something like this and I’d hate to start something and not be consistent. So, when fellow blogger, Eve Bodeux of Blogging on Bilingualism, let me know about a local French camp which takes place once a month on Saturday, I immediately jumped on the idea.

I promptly got in touch with the teacher to ask her all kinds of questions about the camp. I was a bit nervous because Vanessa would be the youngest of all the kids in the group and because the teacher told me all of them already had exposure to French. Either way, I figure the only way to find out would be to try it out. So, I signed her up and took her two weeks ago. I couldn’t believe our luck when I found out that the teacher was actually Vanessa’s French teacher during the two weeks she attended Denver Montclair International School‘s French camp this summer! I was worried no more. When her father picked her up, five hours after I dropped her off, Vanessa didn’t want to leave!

What can I say, my girl loves languages .

Disclosure:  This post is part of a series of entries made possible by Little Pim.  The stories, outcomes, and opinions regarding this trilingual adventure are all our own.

As I admitted to Julia Pimselur, Little Pim’s founder, during our monthly Skype “consultation,” this first month has been a real eye-opener in terms of how much effort has to go in to making sure our children get enough exposure to the language we’re trying to teach them. Honestly, it’s been difficult and I know very well that it’s not like I can just sit her in front of one of the six Little Pim DVDs and hope that she picks up new vocabulary by herself, without any kind of meaningful interaction.

Check out our Skype conversation to find out the great suggestion I got from Julia – which I’ve already implemented and will share more of with you next time – and some tips about how to effectively use media for language learning. By the way, there’s a special treat at the end when Vanessa meets Julia and they sing in French together!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxOhXbsR1C4

Disclosure:  This post is part of a series of entries made possible by Little Pim.  The stories, outcomes, and opinions regarding this trilingual adventure are all our own.

I must start by saying that I couldn’t be prouder of my four-year-old daughter. She is 100% into this idea and is completely involved. While I haven’t been extremely structured when it comes to exposing her to French, she hears it every single day. Sometimes it’s through music, especially the French Bop CD we got from Little Pim and others in YouTube. Other times it comes from one of the six Little Pim DVDs – which Vanessa can watch over and over again. We’re also totally into using their flashcards and have recently, at Julia’s suggestion, started playing games with them. Like the one we play with the colors. If she gets the color right, she gets to keep the card. If she has more cards than I do at the end, she wins! Vanessa is super competitive, so winning is everything for her…

Check out the colors she’s learned so far:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC8xWyQbv4M

On another note, it seems as if our journey has inspired at least one other family member to do something similar. My mother has actually signed up for lessons at the Alliance Francaise and just went to her first class last week. I was ecstatic when she told me! For one, my daughter’s going to have yet another person she can practice with making French even more relevant. Plus, the fact that my mom’s doing something like this, shows my daughter the value our family gives to languages.

I should reveal that my mom has taken French lessons in the past. In fact, it was the third language she learned in her bilingual school (the same one I’d go to years later) back in Peru. It has been a while since the last time she took a class, but she still didn’t have to start at the first level. She’s already started talking to Vanessa in French!

Finally, I’ve been told of a once-a-month French day camp available in Denver and I can’t wait to find out more information. I believe this would be an amazing way to continue exposing my daughter to her third language in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Image of Shake the Animals App

No doubt our children are growing up in a digital and connected world. Smartphones, computers and portable gaming devices are all around them since they are born.  Rather than shield them, I advocate for teaching them the best use of technology.

I do carry an iPhone with me and I don´t know what I did before it. I have a great collection of apps that keep my daughter entertained while in the car during long drives or at moments when mamá needs to get some shopping done. We all know how that goes. I´ve managed to download some great Spanish language apps that range from stories, to games, to just plain fun. Here´s a handpicked list of my nine of my favorite ones.

1. My Bilingual Baby by  Smarty Ears–A very simple app to expose children to all sounds of the Spanish languages and that´s easy for your child to manipulate on their own.  Smarty Ears states that their app is suitable for “children of any age starting as soon as a few weeks from birth.”  It’s divided in three categories:  “Fun with sounds,” “Polar Opposite sounds,” and “My Phrases” your child just needs to tap the screen and they will hear the letter or phrase associated with it.  My girl is 3 years old and learning her letters. This has really helped her recognize the shape and sound of letters and associate them with words.  ($2.99)

1. PicPocketBooks–Developers of a series of apps featuring quality children’s picture books on digital media  so that they can enjoy reading any time, anywhere.  They have a collection of five Spanish language books to choose from that are, gladly, very well translated.  Your child can listen to the story being narrated and follow along with the large print letters that are highlighted as the word is read.  Kinda like the bouncy balls we used to watch on TV! ($1.99)
2. Shake the Animals–Nothing very fancy about this app, but it’s simplicity makes it ideal for little children that love to shake those phones.  The name says it all–you just shake the phone and a new, very colorful animal appears on the screen while you hear his name in either English, Spanish or German. Perfect for the littlest of hands. (.99¢)

1. Peekaboo Barn–This is one of our favorites because the illustrations and animations are so well done.  Your toddler will be engaged with tapping on the barn door to see which animal appears behind it. Once the door opens, she will see the cute animal and will hear his name in Spanish or English, as well as the sound it makes.  There’s a paid ($1.99) version and a Lite one for free.

1. Little Pim Word Bag–One of our sponsors, Little Pim, is always on the forefront in developing multimedia platforms for language learning through their Pimsleur method.  Their app, Word Bag, features the beloved Panda in French and Spanish. Children tap on his yellow shoulder bag and an object comes out full screen while you hear and see the words describing it.  It’s ideal for word recognition in younger children and for those who are starting to read.  ($1.99)

1. MindSnacks–A language learning program, disguised as a game, in an app.  Available in four languages, it comes with six games that cover basic vocabulary, reading, writing, listening and conversation skills.  I was impressed by the fact that when you use it for the first time it asks you to take a short quiz to asses your language level and then it keeps track of your learning process.  The games are definitely thrilling and challenging, even a bit addictive, while at the same time teaching your kids advanced language lessons.  I would recommend this one for early readers through elementary.  ($4.99)

1. FeedMe–A fun game available in eight languages, including Spanish.  The little purple monster wants to be fed all sorts of letters, shapes, objects and numbers.  They appear inside a thought bubble and children need to choose from the options on the side and “feed” one to him by dragging it into his mouth.  Definitely ideal for the preschool crowd that’s in the mood to acquire basic skills and knowledge.  The more correct answers he gets, the more complicated the game gets. (FREE)

1. Kidztory Classics–Brings to life in gorgeous animations and with Spanish narrations a handful of your kids favorite stories, such as:  The Three Little Pigs and The Little Red Hen.  The menu gives you the option to have the story read to you or read it on your own.  What my girl enjoys the most out of this app is the sounds that she discovers when tapping on different illustrations on the screen. Lots of bells and whistles, literally.  ($0.99)

1. Pocoyize–OK, so this one is not in Spanish and it has nothing to to with learning another language, but we all have a tender spot for Pocoyó! This app lets you create Pocoyo-style avatars for yourself and your contacts. How fabulous is that? ($0.99)

As I mentioned in the past, my 4-year-old daughter, Vanessa, attended two weeks of a French immersion summer camp in August. She was incredibly enthused and I was very proud of everything she learned: counting to five, some of the colors, and at least two full songs. She know how to say “Bonjour” and “Au revoir” and “Je m’appelle Vanessa.” I wanted to use the summer camp experience as an introduction of what is to come in the next three months.

In an effort to make this venture into a third language more of a reality, we’ve partnered with the fabulous Little Pim and will be using their entertaining and educational products and materials for our trilingual adventures. The plan is for me to document Vanessa’s progress through regular posts and to also bring you expert advice in the form of vlogs of the consultations we’ll have with Julia Pimsleur Levine – Little Pim’s founder –  to help us along our journey!

Today, we bring you our first vlog, an interview with Julia regarding some basic tips for introducing a new language and putting Little Pim products to use. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this dream of mine finally becoming a reality. I’m so happy we’re doing it with Little Pim, but more than anything, I can’t deny it thrills me to say that it looks like my daughter has the same love of languages that I have! In fact, a few days before she started pre-K last Friday, she asked what language was going to be spoken there, when I said English (and once a week Spanish for one hour) she was a bit disappointed. “¿Por qué no francés, como en la otra escuelita?” she asked.

Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWb7AtNa8Q

Disclosure:  This post is part of a series of entries made possible by Little Pim.  The stories, outcomes, and opinions regarding this trilingual adventure are all our own.