March 30, 2021 by Olga Put Spanish for Kids 0 comments

All About Your Face in Spanish: Vocab & Activities for Kids

When you’re homeschooling your kids, or simply teaching them Spanish as a foreign language, the body and parts of the face in Spanish are one of the first topics to cover. It’s especially fun for younger kids, who get interested in things they relate to and can interact with (like their body and their face!). Helping your learn to focus their attention on Spanish vocabulary that relates to what they see in the mirror is a fun and engaging place to start with your lessons!

And the good news is that this lesson isn’t just for little kids! But teenagers, too.

In this article, I’ve prepared vocabulary and activities related to parts of the face in Spanish that you can use with both your younger and older kids. You’ll see that most of them target kids under ten, but I’ve made sure to include some activities and suggestions for teenagers.

As you know, each child is different and you can adapt everything you read here according to your personal needs!

It’s a bit of a challenge to find fun Spanish materials for kids, and that’s why I also prepared some FREE materials for you to download and print for your convenience.

Let’s start!

Face in Spanish: The Vocabulary

Before we cover strategies on how to teach your kids face-related vocabulary, let’s have a look at the words you need to know, which I’ve divided into two categories:

Easy, ideal for kids under 12
Extended, for avid teenage learners.

1. Basic Face Vocabulary

English	Spanish
face	la cara
head	la cabeza
hair	el pelo
eye	el ojo
nose	la nariz
ear	la oreja
tooth	el diente
mouth	la boca
forehead	la frente
lip	el labio
chin	la barbilla
tongue	la lengua
moustache	el bigote
beard	la barba

Extended Face Vocabulary

English	Spanish
eyebrow	la ceja
eyelid	el párpado
eyelash	la pestaña
corner of the mouth	la comisura
cheek	la mejilla
earlobe	el lóbulo (de la oreja)
ala of the nose	la aleta de la nariz
iris	el iris
jaw	la mandíbula
lower lip	el labio inferior
upper lip	el labio superior
nostril	la fosa nasal
pore	el poro
pupil	la pupila
temple	la sien

How to Teach Your Child About Parts of the Face in Spanish

The most important element of teaching your kids is motivation! Kids, as opposed to adults, don’t learn stuff because they need to, they only learn because they want to. And if you are a parent of a teenager, I’m sure you get what I mean.

Depending on your child’s age, you’ll need to consider different methods and materials. While younger kids learn perfectly with daily routines, songs, and games, teenagers require something more related to their individual interests. I’m not saying that you can’t use songs with your 14-year old kid, but you probably won’t use “head, shoulder, knees, and toes” to do it.

I’m going to show you some methods I use with my kids and students. My girls are pretty young, (5 and 7) but my students are between 11 and 16 years old. I will share the activities I find work best, but you can adapt the methods listed here according to your individual needs and situation.

Daily Routine

Age: Under 12

The daily routine works best with smaller kids, although you might be able to extend it. It really depends on your kid’s personality.

You can teach parts of the face in Spanish during regular daily activities. In the morning, you can touch different parts of your face and say:

Ahora, vamos a limpiar… la boca, los dientes, la frente, las mejillas, etc.
Now, we’re going to clean our… mouth, teeth, forehead, cheeks, etc.

You can use a command such as:

Pon el jabón en… la oreja, la barbilla, la nariz.
Put the soap on.. your ear, chin, nose, etc.

You can also ask your kid to put soap or water on your face parts or your partner’s.

¡Pon el jabón en la barba de papi!
Put the soap on your daddy’s beard!

Arts and Crafts

Age: Under 12

Self-portraits

It’s natural to sit down with your younger ones and draw, paint, make models with play-dough, etc. Use this time to teach parts of the face in Spanish.

You can ask your kid to w their self-portrait or your portrait and describe it You can also hand them a white piece of paper with an empty oval and say commands like this:

Dibuja una nariz.
Draw a nose.

Dibuja un ojo.
Draw an eye.

Dibuja una oreja.
Draw an ear.

If your kid is starting their journey with Spanish you can reinforce the commands by touching your face parts.

Monsters

Make two jars one with numbers and another one with body parts written on paper. Tell your child you’re going to draw monsters. Ask them to pull a paper from both of them. If they got for example tres (three) and la nariz (nose), they have to draw three noses on their monster. Keep going with this to see what kind of monster your child creates! And for the purpose of your lesson, keep pulling out the papers until you cover all the parts of the face in Spanish that you want to.

If your kid is already more advanced in Spanish, you can ask them to describe their monsters. For example:

Mi monstruo tiene tres narices. Mi monstruo tiene 4 orejas, etc.
My monster has three noses. My monster has four ears, etc.

Face Scramble

Get a picture of your child’s favorite character’s face and cut it into parts. Popular characters include Peppa Pig, Elsa, and Zendaya. Google your child’s personal favorite via image search and print it out!

For the activity, you first elicit names of different parts of the face in Spanish by asking in English (or Spanish, if skill allows):

¿Qué es esto?
What’s this?

Una nariz
A nose.

Una barbilla
A chin

(Continue.)

Then simply ask your child to put the face puzzle together!

Make-up Tutorials

Age: above 12

This works best with teenagers but if you have a younger child who’s crazy about make-up and face paint, this will be fun for them. These tutorials are perfect as they use a lot of more sophisticated vocabulary related to parts of the face in Spanish and include bonus vocabulary such as colors and make-up tools!

Look for make-up and face painting tutorials in Spanish and watch them with your child. Then, ask them to repeat the steps. You can also record them to review later pronunciation and some mistakes.

Here are some Youtube artists to start with:

Songs with Parts of the Face in Spanish

Age: Under 7 (+ bonus for teenagres)

Kids of every age love songs! And they’re great for learning (or reinforcing) vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar structures, and even rhythm.

A quick search makes it obvious that It’s easier to find songs that teach parts of the face in Spanish targeted to younger children, and finding songs for teenagers that mention this vocabulary is a bit tricky (see next paragraph).

Songs for little kids:

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies, (Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes) Everybody knows this song, and you can find multiple versions of it on Youtube. It covers very basic vocabulary related to parts of the face in Spanish.
Canción de la cara – a very easy song with parts of the face in Spanish
En mi cara tengo – a song perfect for smaller kids

Some songs that are interesting for older kids that include parts of the body and face in Spanish are usually kind of romantic ones and you will want to review the content before.

Songs for older kids:

Saltan Chispas, by Rozalén
Lo Que Me Gusta a Mi, by Juanes and Nicky Jam

If you need inspiration for songs about other body parts, check out 10 Kids Songs About Body Parts in Spanish.

Posters

All ages

Kids love posters, and teenagers love them, too. Apart from decorating the space around you, their educational value is immense!

Refer to the poster while teaching the vocabulary, and by seeing the poster hang in a high traffic place, your child gets used to the spelling of new words.

Flashcards

Age: kids who can read

Flashcards are a great teaching resource. You can use them any time you have spare five minutes. Is your child waiting for lunch? Are you going somewhere in a car? Use the flashcards!

If put them in your child’s pocket, they can take them out when they want a quick activity and look at the English translation while they say the words in Spanish. If they know the word, they can move the flashcard to the other pocket. If not, the flashcard must be put back in the same pocket.

Games

All Ages

Everybody loves games! Choose a few that are suited to your child’s age and interest.

Simon Says

Simon Says is perfect for little kids. This game doesn’t need much introduction. Simply say: Simon says: touch your nariz (nose). Simon says: touch your oreja (ear). You can also say it in Spanish. Simón dice: Toca tu nariz.

Pictionary

You can be 60 years old and still enjoy this game! Players take turns and draw on a piece of paper things that other players need to guess. It’s very easy to use with parts of the face in Spanish.

You can play many other traditional games and adapt them to the vocabulary you’re teaching. You can play hangman with parts of the face in Spanish, or make a Tic-tac-toe with face parts. It all depends on your imagination.

Practice Time

I hope you liked the activities I proposed for you to practice parts of the face in Spanish. You can follow my instructions or simply get inspired by them and prepare your own activities.

If you need more resources for homeschooling your kids in Spanish have a look at 40+ Bilingual Homeschooling Resources for Your Family.

You can also sign up for a free class for your child. Our kid-friendly, professional native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala are great with kids and can practice with the parts of the face in Spanish or any other vocabulary and grammar topic.

Want more free Spanish lessons, fun content, and easy learning strategies for kids? Check these out!

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Olga Put

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

I'm a Spanish philologist, teacher, and freelance writer with a Master's degree in Humanities from Madrid. I speak Polish, Spanish, and English fluently, and want to get better in Portuguese and German. A lover of literature, and Mexican spicy cuisine, I've lived in Poland, Spain, and Mexico and I'm currently living and teaching in Madeira, Portugal.