Educational Toys With Spanish Educational Games With Spanish

Songs in Spanish CDs and DVDs Songs in Spanish MP3 Songs in Spanish Book

Children's Fun Videos (CDs and DVDs) in Spanish Children's Fun Videos (VHS) in Spanish

Spanish Lessons Kids Book CD Spanish Lessons Kids CDs and DVDs

3. Here are some of our experiences and reviews!

Los Pollitos

When my granddaughter was two years old, she used to call us. She wanted to sing "Los Pollitos" to me. You can find this children's classic in most of the collections of songs that we are recommending.

It is perfect for hand gestures. These gestures are ideal for language learning because they imprint the sense of the words as the child recites.

The text is: (translation follows)

Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío
cuando tienen hambre,
y cuando tienen frío.
(the kids make gesture of shivering)

La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo;
Le da su comida,
Y le presta abrigo
(the kids make the gesture of Mom hugging her kids.)

Pío, pío, pío
(the kids should ham it up, making a little chick face!)

Translation:
The little chicks say peep, peep, peep
when they are hungry
and when they are cold.

The chicken looks for corn and wheat;
she feeds them,
and she keeps them warm.

peep, peep, peep



Las Vocales y las Sílabas

Right off the bat here is something you kids will like and which will actually teach them the Spanish vowels. Since the vowels in Spanish are regular, very young kids will be able to play this spelling word game.

This is a song of John H. Crosby of hevanet.com that teaches and re-enforces las vocales y las sílabas to teach children Spanish. It is sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and you Know it Clap your Hands":

Las vocales en español sí sé.
Las vocales en español sí sé.
a, e, i, o, u, a, e, i, o, u.
Las vocales en español sí sé.

To do syllables: (whatever consonant you want to use)

La 'm' con la 'a' dice 'ma'
La 'm' con la 'e' dice 'me'
La 'm' con la 'i' dice 'mi'
(it picks up at the beginning of the tune again here and continues to the end)
La 'm' con la 'o' dice 'mo'
La 'm' con la 'u' se que dice 'mu'
Now all together sing, "ma, me, mi, mo, mu".

With older kids you can teach them the Latinamerican school rhyme:
"a, e, i, o, u: el burro sabe más que tú"

¡Buena Suerte y adelante con su cometido!

Some First Recitations

A long time, universal, traditional favorite is "Pinpón"

Pinpón es un muñeco,
muy guapo y de cartón
(the kids smile for "muy guapo",
and act stiff for "de cartón")
se lava la carita
(the kids make the gesture of washing their face)
con agua y con jabón.

Pinpón dame la mano,
(the kids reach out their hand)
que quiero ser tu amigo
(the kids make the gesture of shaking hands)
¡Pinpón, Pinpón, Pinpón!

Translation: Pinpón is a doll,
a handsome cardboard doll.
He washes his face
with soap and water.

Pinpón give me your hand,
I want to be your friend.
Pinpón, Pinpón, Pinpón!



Another favorite of our kids was "La Mar Estaba Serena"

Kids like this one because it is easy to follow. The repetition helps them learn the relation between noun and adjective as well as the vowels in Spanish.

The same verse is repeated by using all of the vowels in turn. It begins by the parent singing, "La mar estaba serena; serena estaba la mar". (The sea was calm; calm was the sea.) Then either the parent or one of several children taking turns shouts out, "¡con A!", meaning, "Let's sing it with all "a" sounds"! And you sing, "La mar astaba sarana; sarana astaba la mar."

"¡con e"! "Le mer estebe serene; serene estebe le mer".
"¡con i"! "Li mir istibi sirini; sirini istibi li mir".
"¡con o"! "Lo mor ostobo sorono; sorono ostobo lo mor".
"¡con u"! "Lu mur ustubu surunu; surunu estubu lu mur.

You'll find the kids really like this one.