Best YouTube Channels to Learn Spanish for Kids

Favorite Spanish Games

I look back into my childhood with a huge smile on my face when I remember the times we would gather at the table to play games. It was such a bonding time to play with my mama, abuelita, aunts & uncles, and cousins. I remember sitting at the table after having once, pulling out the cards or dominos to get ready for a game. We talked, we laughed; sometimes I lost, other times I won. Either way, memories were made and we had fun together.

Now I find myself introducing these games to my children and waiting for them to get a bit older to learn to play others. Playing games is fun and can help teach so many different skills that are necessary for later on. Skills such as team work, turn taking, analyzing, processing information on the spot, building mathematical and logical skills and language skills. There's just so much that can be learned when playing a game even if the actual game portion only takes 20 min.  Many memories will be made and lots of learning will take place as well.



La Escoba Spanish Naipe - was a favorite of mine that I played with pretty much my whole family.  It's really educational in the sense that it helps you learn and remember which numbers add up to 15. It uses a traditional Spanish naipe / cards to be able to play the game.  I can't wait to teach my kids to play!

Carioca - my cousin and I played this quite often. There are different 'levels' to play the game either putting trios together or creating sequences. It's very educational too and very intriguing.

La Loteria Numbers Bingo Game -  I remember Sunday evenings playing a few rounds with my cousin before heading back home. Definitely a favorite. It teaches to read and call out numbers as well as number recognition. It's such a fun game! Plus it can be played in any language, just need game boards!

Domino - Growing up I played the double six dominos, now we play Mexican Train Domino Game . Such a fun game!



Bilingual Bingo - the kids and I have been playing this game together and it has helped reinforce Spanish vocabulary. We got ours at Target a few years ago in the dollar section, but this one looks really neat and good quality as well. Here's another option.


This Ingenio Bilingual Crossword Blocks looks like it would be a fun addition and the kids would really like it. They could try to put together words they already know or words from the Bilingual Bingo mentioned above.


What games from your childhood do you play at your home now? Share in the comments!


Fabi

Toys to Teach Early Math Skills

Teaching Math to young children can be a lot of fun when doing it as a game. Let them explore and acquire basic math principles by providing them with the right tools at home. Although there are many products available, I have looked for the ones that I believe will provoke the most impact in learning.

These are great for keeping the youngsters busy while teaching the older children or when assigning quiet play time or workboxes. Whichever method you use, these toys will sure to help your children master important concepts from early on.

Top 5 Toys to Teach Early Math Skills 

(this post contains affiliate links)

1. Peg Board Set - Per Amazon's description:

• Oversize pegs are easy for little fingers to grasp and stack on the board and each other to build towers while stacking.
• The pegboard stacker is great for building fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, develop and strengthen visual perception skills, visual motor coordination, making patterns & more!
• Use with your child for sorting, color recognition, patterning, basic math skills such as counting, adding, subtraction and graphing. The best part about this set is that your little ones won't even notice that they are learning as they "play". 

2. Family Counting Bears -  Includes bears in three different sizes and in 6 different colors. This is great for teaching counting, sorting, comparison, graphing. There are matching bowls available or you could write the color on a piece of paper and put in a bowl that you have at home to do this sorting. 

3. Family Pattern Cards - Set of 16 cards to teach patterns and sequencing. 

4. Picasso Tiles -  Children learn about geometrical shapes while using them to build with tiles. It also teaches number counts, magnetic polars, and it encourages creativity.

5. Mini Muffin Match Up - Teaches color recognition, sorting, matching, counting, and early math skills. 

6. Number Construction - Use lines and curves to construct numbers while also building on fine motor skills. 

Chime in: What toys do you use in your homeschool to teach early math? 

Fabi 

The Online Phonics Program That Kids Love

English Phonics Curriculum for Kindergarten

Before beginning to homeschool Kindergarten for the first time I had an idea that I wanted to teach Phonics with Abeka for numerous reasons: the solid foundation, the repetition, the teaching and emphasis of short vs long vowels, the teaching of marking short and long vowels, special sounds, and most importantly the fact that it is a Christian curriculum.

Well, a year has gone by and all I can say is how pleased I am to see my kindergarten becoming a reader, in second grade level. Really, the teaching of the sounds and the vowels with its respective short and long sounds to be then plugged into special sounds (sp, tr, bl, etc). Abeka has really proved to be a very good and solid curriculum. I am looking forward to continuing to use it this following year.

Abeka K5 Phonics includes the following:

• Letters and Sounds 
• Writing Tablet 
• Phonics Tablet Writing
• 3 sets of Readers at the different levels 
• plus a few other books

In addition, I would recommend getting:

• Basic Phonics Flashcards - Many times, I assign 5 cards or so to be read. The first few weeks we did it together and then it became an activity my daughter could do on her own. Basically, you read the sound on the front of the cover like 'fl' as in flower. Then turn the card over and read other words that begin with 'fl'.   These cards are very sturdy and I plan to continue using them with my other children as well. 

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• Basic Phonics Sounds CD - This is such a great CD to have! You can play it in the car or at home during some down time and the kids can still be listening and learning the sounds. It's a great tool to add variety to your teaching materials and lessons. 

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Hope this information is helpful to you if you are still in search for a Phonics curriculum.

Have fun and enjoy the ride!

Fabi