8 Spanish Homeschool Activities You Should Do ASAP
Spanish homeschool activities are major assets that add to the effectiveness of your Spanish homeschool. In addition to providing your kids with linguistic benefits and cognitive advantages while learning a foreign language, you will boost their motivation, interest, and overall engagement with the target language as they get involved with each activity.
The Spanish homeschool activities I’ve gathered for this list is a resource center for you to come back to time and again as you plan your Spanish homeschool routines.
What Spanish Homeschool Activities are Right for Your Kids?
While learning Spanish is possible at any age, it’s essential to adjust your Spanish homeschool activities according to your child’s level. Choosing the right activity comes down to content, learning goals, materials needed and—my personal favorite━ making it fun!
Some key elements to look for in Spanish homeschool activities include:
- They pump your kids up to learn
- They’re similar to activities you’ve already tried with your kids
- They encourage healthy competition
- They act as an energy booster during homeschool lessons
Whether you’re starting as a homeschool parent or have plenty of experience, you’re in luck━I’ve put together a list of 8 Spanish homeschool activities you should give a try ASAP.
1. Indoors Scavenger Hunt
Suggested Ages: 5 to 6, try it with our Preschool Spanish Program
Needed Materials: Spanish scavenger lists and plenty of creativity
When it comes to starting with Spanish homeschool activities, this one is ideal for the whole family—and most especially for your little ones and early Spanish learners!
Scavenger hunts are simple and let your kids’ imagination fly high, while moving and handling objects around the house or backyard.
First you need to select a Spanish check-list. I suggest starting with easy-to-gather objects or those that can be identified at a glance, such as colors, house items or objects. Give your kids 30 minutes or more to start completing the list and practice pronunciation as you go.
Use clues to make it more interesting while using key Spanish terms like estamos buscando… (we’re looking for…). This activity is perfect for strengthening and expanding Spanish vocabulary while associating Spanish learning with tons of fun!
2. ¿Que hay en la caja? (What’s in the Box)
Suggested Ages: 5 to 6, try it with our Preschool Spanish Program
Needed Materials: An empty box, blindfold and different small sensory objects
This activity is super motivating and curious for your kids to practice!
Fill up a shoebox with different items, then cover your child’s eyes before you let them draw something out of the box. The key here is to guess the name of the object in Spanish. Since your child is blindfolded, he or she will use their sense of smell, touch or taste to guess what the object is. If they need extra assistance, you can give them some clues or also instruct them along the way.
Once they guess the object’s name, you can top it off by asking ¿te gusta? o ¿no te gusta? (do you like it or don’t like it?). The purpose of this activity is to allow kids to use their senses to identify objects in the target language, while also encouraging them to express likes and dislikes in Spanish.
3. Lotería (Spanish Bingo)
Suggested Ages: 6 to 10, try it with our Elementary Spanish Program
Needed Materials: Lotería cards, grains of beans and a prize for the winner.
Lotería is a fun traditional game played throughout Mexico and a favorite among Spanish homeschool activities. The objective of playing lotería is to practice reading, listening, and comprehension skills of nouns and pronouns.
The game is similar to Bingo, but instead of numbers, it uses words and pictures.
Each participant gets a different cartón (card) and frijoles (beans for marking each image). Someone has to be in charge of drawing and calling each image using smaller flash cards, and whenever the players hear the word, they must look for the image and word in their card and mark it with a frijol.
The first person to complete their full card and announce it wins!
You can print a classical lotería or make your own with your chosen vocabulary such as body parts, numbers, adjectives or nouns. Not only is lotería highly entertaining, it’s also a huge part of the Spanish-speaking world, perfect for introducing a bit of Spanish tradition to your kids!
4. Culebrita (Word Snake)
Suggested Ages: 6 to 10, try it with our Elementary Spanish Program
Needed Materials: A long whiteboard and markers
This fun activity can be played in a group or in pairs and is a dynamic way to enrich vocabulary while challenging your children with their knowledge of the Spanish alphabet and spelling skills.
How do you play culebrita? It starts with player #1 writing down the first word in Spanish they can think off, while player #2 thinks of a Spanish word that begins with the last letter of the first word and writes it. Carry on until the words you’ve written form a snake of words across the board. You can also print a free template if a board is not an option. For example, your first word can be culebra (snake) and the second amor (love).
Now If this is too easy and your child already knows plenty of Spanish vocabulary, you can make the activity more interesting by using Spanish words that begin with the last syllable of the previous word. For example elefante (elephant) followed by terminado (finished), and then by dormir (sleep). This activity can be never-ending but will get your child thinking and digging deep into new vocabulary.
5. ¡Basta! (Scattergories)
Suggested Ages: 10 to 13, try it with our Middle School Spanish Program
Needed Materials: Pen and sheets of paper
Get your kids to practice their Spanish with a good ol’ fashioned game of ¡Basta!. This activity will improve overall Spanish writing skills and the ability to think fast. Select 6 or 7 categories together and create a spreadsheet on a piece of paper, I suggest starting with basics like:
- Animal (Animal)
- Cosa (Object)
- Comida (Food)
- Nombre (Name)
- Lugar (City or Country)
- Color (Colour)
Once you create your spreadsheet, one of the players says the alphabet in Spanish quickly and someone else calls out ¡Basta! Whatever letter the person is saying, is the selected one for each round. Everyone should write the letter on the 1st column on the left and start writing down a word in Spanish for each category, if you finish first you have to call out ¡Basta! All playing should stop once the first person completes a round. To score each round, players must read their answers out loud. For each unique answer, players get 10 points, if the answer repeats itself players get 5 points, and if the answer is not accepted the player gets 0 points. This activity can go on for as many rounds as you like, the final score is added up at the end.
For me the true beauty about ¡Basta! is that it allows you to modify categories according to what your child is learning in Spanish, you can adapt it to different vocabulary and the possibilities are endless, if you want to go for the classic version you can get a free template available online. Before you know it, your kids will be comparing answers, spelling and reading words in Spanish out loud!
6. Clase de Cocina (Spanish Cooking Class)
Suggested Ages: 10 to 13, try it with our Middle School Spanish Program
Needed Materials: A Spanish recipe of your choice to follow, fresh ingredients, cooking utensils and a hungry belly!
Time to learn some language and culture at the same time! A Spanish cooking class is a fun way to learn Spanish while providing kids with the valuable life skill of cooking and enjoying a delicious treat at the end. Choose an authentic, hands-on and not so difficult recipe both you and your kids can enjoy, and follow from start to finish. If you want your child to practice Spanish listening you can go for a video or if you’re interested in reading comprehension you can follow a written recipe step-by-step. If you’re not an experienced cook, I suggest going for simple recipes like tacos or quesadillas.
Make a list of necessary ingredients in Spanish and head out to the supermarket with your kids to source all things needed. This trip to the grocery store will be key to have your kids practice pronunciation while identifying each ingredient and make it a scavenger hunt kind of search. Once you get back home, make sure to follow the recipe accordingly while repeating the steps in Spanish. It’s important to ask questions throughout the process and make your child’s role essential to the preparation. Cooking together will be very empowering for your family and can get everyone to join in on the Spanish homeschool activities. The best part is enjoying your delicious creation together!
7. Spanish Movie Night
Suggested Ages:13 to 18, try it with our High School Spanish Program
Needed Materials: A movie streaming platform with Spanish audio, pen and paper
Make class more engaging with an exciting activity like Spanish movie night. Select an age-appropriate feature film you haven’t seen, if its original format is in English, make sure it has a Spanish-spoken version available. You can include subtitles in Spanish so they can support reading comprehension, grammar, and spelling. Give your student the following questions to answer in a piece of paper:
- ¿Cuál es tu personaje favorito? (Which is your favorite character?)
- ¿Qué parte de la película es la más importante? (What’s the most important part of the movie?)
- ¿Qué cambiarías de la película? (What would you change about the movie?)
- ¿Qué aprendiste de la película? (What did you learn about the movie?)
- Vuelve a contar el final de la película y escribe qué te hace sentir. (Retell the ending of the movie and write your feelings about it.)
Hopefully the movie will keep your kids entertained and they’ll require a few extra minutes to complete their answers at the end. These questions and analysis of the storyline will open up a space for discussion and sharing at a conversational level; it also supports your child’s Spanish writing skills in an interactive way while improving their fluency.
8. Spanish Lyrics Sing-a-Long
Suggested Ages:13 to 18, try it with our High School Spanish Program
Needed Materials: Spanish songs playlist and printable song lyrics
Music is a unique way of training the ear for listening comprehension. Including it in your homeschool Spanish curriculum allows you to adapt to different age groups, but by targeting the correct tunes of today you can spike the interest of young adults.
First, select at least 4 Spanish hits from different genres such as salsa, pop en español or cumbia. Look for the lyrics online, copy them to a blank document, and print them out with at least 10 blank spaces instead of the original words.
Have your kids listen to the song no more than twice and have them complete the words on the lyrics sheet based on what they understand. For each word they fill out correctly you can grant them 10 points, add up the final score once you finish the round of songs.
Listening to music and reading the lyrics simultaneously allows you to practice conversational Spanish at different speeds and come up close to real time pronunciation.
Music can be catchy, fun and easy to remember for most people, but of all the Spanish homeschool activities, this one is destined to those that are able to read at a high-school level pace.
Expand your Child’s Spanish Learning Opportunities
Regardless of what Spanish curriculum you’re following, Spanish homeschool activities must be captivating for the student. If you’re still not sure what road to take, I suggest you read our blog post on choosing the perfect homeschool Spanish curriculum for your child. Any of the activities mentioned above will be a great addition to the program you choose. Finish off this awesome list by reading our blog post on how our native Spanish-speaking teachers teach Spanish or try it yourself by signing up for a free trial class.
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