Exploring Health, Fitness, and Nutrition (Free Spanish Lessons for Kids)
Staying healthy is essential in any language! Learning about fitness and nutrition in Spanish allows kids to become familiar with concepts and words related to the multiple health benefits of regular exercise, proper diet, and staying active.
If you’re looking to introduce healthy habits for young Spanish learners, knowing all about balanced nutrition in Spanish is a great way to get started. Join me in this amusing blog post where I’ll dive into vocabulary and activities related to health, fitness, and nutrition in Spanish.
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Healthy Habits in Spanish
The majority of adults are increasingly aware of how important it is to follow a balanced diet and staying active. Teaching these habits to children shouldn’t be difficult, as kids are exposed to physical activity at school through recess, sports, or playing games.
Acquiring healthy habits for kids leads them to maintain a healthy lifestyle when they are adults and will prevent certain conditions like obesity, cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Recommended healthy habits for children in Spanish are:
- Nutrición balanceada (Balanced nutrition)
- Ejercicio (Physical exercise)
- Beber mucha agua (Drink a lot of water)
- Jugar más y ver menos televisión (Play more and watch less tv)
- Dormir lo suficiente (Get enough sleep)
- Buena higiene (Good hygiene)
Fitness and Exercise in Spanish for Kids
Fitness for kids means playing and being physically active. Kids are able to exercise when they have gym class, at sports practice, riding their bike, playing games, or during recess. Like adults, kids receive different benefits from staying active.
Exercise and Fitness Vocabulary
Let’s take a look at some key exercise and fitness words in Spanish.
English | Spanish |
Health | La salud |
Fitness | El estado físico |
Exercise | El ejercicio |
Energy | La energía |
Endurance | La resistencia |
Stretches | Los estiramientos |
Balance | El equilibrio |
Stamina | El aguante |
Strength | La fuerza |
Effort | El esfuerzo |
Flexibility / elasticity | La flexibilidad / La elasticidad |
Bones | Los huesos |
Muscles | Los músculos |
Ligaments | Los ligamentos |
Tendons | Los tendones |
Movement | El movimiento |
Training | El entrenamiento |
To sweat | sudar |
To be fit | estar en forma |
To get tired | cansarse |
To breathe | respirar |
Now let’s take a look at the types of exercise and workouts in Spanish.
English | Spanish |
Gym | El gimnasio |
Aerobics | Los aeróbicos |
Yoga | El yoga |
Swimming | La natación |
Riding a bike | bicicletear |
Sports | Los deportes |
Basketball | El básquetbol / El baloncesto |
Football | El fútbol |
Baseball | El béisbol |
Dodgeball | El matado / El quemado |
Volleyball | El vóleibol |
Running | correr |
Skating / rollerblading | patinar |
Walking | caminar |
Jogging | trotar |
Playing | jugar |
Squats | Las sentadillas |
Push ups | Las lagartijas / Las flexiones |
Pull ups | Las dominadas |
Dance / dancing | El baile / bailar |
Crunches | Los abdominales |
Weights | Las pesas |
Workout Phrases in Spanish
Once you’ve covered the previous basic vocabulary with the kids and they feel comfortable with it, you can move on to longer phrases that will help them with grammar and building confidence in their conversational phrases. A few example sentences that can come in handy are:
Él está en el gimnasio.
He ‘s at the gym.
Ayer no fui a clase de baile.
I didn’t go to dance class yesterday.
Ella dejó de patinar y empezó a jugar baloncesto.
She stopped skating and started doing basketball.
¿Cuántas veces a la semana haces ejercicio?
How many times a week do you exercise?
Me gusta practicar yoga.
I like practicing yoga.
Es importante hacer estiramientos antes de ejercitarse.
It’s important to stretch before exercising.
Todos los días hago treinta abdominales.
Everyday I do thirty crunches.
Me siento saludable gracias al ejercicio.
I feel healthy because of exercise.
Nutrition in Spanish for Kids
Now let’s turn our attention to the base of every healthy lifestyle: una dieta balanceada (a balanced diet). Experts recommend to diversity as much of the food groups as possible for children, specially to avoid excessive intake of sugars, saturated fats, and sodas. The sooner children are initiated into vegetables, legumes, and fruits; the easier it’ll be to diversify these into their diet.
If your children are learning Spanish, teaching them and getting them involved with the different food groups enables them to eat well without noticing while enriching their language abilities.
Let’s take a look at the food pyramid and daily recommended intake of each group for kids.
Food Pyramid – Pirámide Alimenticia
Dulces, grasas y aceites
Sweets, fats, and oils
Recommendation: Comer de vez en cuando. (Eat seldom.)
Lácteos
Dairy
Recommendation: Dos porciones. (Two servings.)
Carnes, pescado, legumbres
Meats, fish, legumes
Recommendation: Dos porciones. (Two servings.)
Vegetales
Vegetables
Recommendation: Tres porciones. (Three servings.)
Frutas
Fruits
Recommendation: Dos porciones. (Two servings.)
Granos
Grains
Recommendation: Seis porciones. (Six servings.)
Agua
Water
Recommendation: Seis a ocho porciones. (Six to eight servings.)
Useful Diet and Nutrition in Spanish Vocabulary
Let’s examine the different concepts and words related to children’s nutrition in Spanish.
English | Spanish |
Nutrition | La nutrición |
Diet | La dieta |
Healthy | sano / saludable |
Calories | Las calorías |
Food / foods | la comida / El alimento / Los alimentos |
Low fat / high fat | bajo en grasa / alto en grasa |
High in sugar / sugar free | alto en azúcar / libre de azúcar |
Gluten free | libre de gluten |
Vegan | vegano (a) |
Vegetarian | vegetariano (a) |
Coeliac | celíaca (o) |
Ration / portion / serving | La ración / La porción |
Hunger | El hambre |
Thirst | La sed |
Fats / trans fats | Las grasas / Las grasas trans |
Protein | La proteína |
Vitamins | Las vitaminas |
Minerals | Los minerales |
Carbohydrates | Los carbohidratos |
Fibre | La fibra |
Calcium | El calcio |
Sodium | El sodio |
Nutrients | Los nutrientes |
Junk food | La comida chatarra |
Nutritious Foods in Spanish
Teach your kids and students all about the delicious, scrumptious, healthy foods they can enjoy while learning about nutrition in Spanish. Let’s take a look at useful words and concepts.
English | Spanish |
Apples | Las manzanas |
Oranges | Las naranjas |
Bananas | Las bananas / Los bananos |
Celery | El apio |
Peppers | Los pimientos |
Berries | Las bayas |
Meat | La carne |
Chicken | El pollo |
Pork | El cerdo |
Fish | El pescado |
Seafood | Los mariscos |
Milk | La leche |
Yogurt | El yogur |
Cheese | El queso |
Potatoes | Las papas / Las patatas |
Granola | La granola |
Oatmeal | La avena |
Rice | El arroz |
Nuts | Las nueces |
Olive oil | El aceite de oliva |
Wholemeal bread | El pan integral |
Spinach | La espinaca |
Brocoli | El brocoli |
Lettuce | La lechuga |
Carrots | Las zanahorias |
Explore more FREE SPANISH LESSONS FOR KIDS! ➡️
Enjoy over 70 unique lessons + free activity packets to download.
Nutrition in Spanish Phrases
Useful phrases for communicating about nutrition in Spanish are fundamental for amping up conversational skills and boosting self-confidence. Let’s take a look at some phrases that’ll be of use for your kids.
Es importante mantenerse hidratado.
It’s important to stay hydrated.
Me gusta comer de todo.
I like eating all sorts of food.
Soy alérgico a…
I’m allergic to…
Sigo una dieta balanceada y saludable.
I follow a balanced and healthy diet.
Prefiero no comer comida alta en grasa.
I prefer not to eat high-fat foods.
Me encantan los vegetales altos en fibra y vitaminas.
I love vegetables that are high in fiber and vitamins.
Yo necesito comer lácteos dos veces al día.
I need to eat dairy twice a day.
Es importante comer frutas y verduras.
It’s important to eat fruits and vegetables.
Spanish Activities and Games for a Healthy Lifestyle
Now that I’ve covered words and concepts related to fitness and nutrition in Spanish, it’s time to explore the different resources and enjoyable activities for improving your kids skills.
Diana Come Sano (Healthy eating with Diana)
Ideal for: Kids of all ages.
This wonderful app is available for download in IOS and Android, and allows you to choose between Spanish, English, and Catalan. All of the app’s content has been revised by a nutritionist and specialized doctor, so you can be sure all the information provided is legit and checked beforehand. Diana come sano has different games related to nutrition in Spanish, and allows children to understand what foods allow us to grow, which give energy, and what types of food should be eaten on smaller intakes. This app is proved to be a great resource for reinforcing knowledge of nutrition in Spanish.
¡Salud, Familia! (Health, family!) Books
Ideal for: Preschool and elementary students.
Illustrated books are a great Spanish learning resource for children. The ¡Salud, familia! book series by Piñata Books offers health education and nutrition in Spanish information. The stars of the storylines are children making choices about exercise and eating. They are full of engaging vocabulary and joyful stories that allow kids to connect with all things related to a healthy lifestyle. The following books from the series are available for purchase on Amazon:
- Un día sin azúcar (A day without sugar)
- Adelita y las primas verduritas (Adelita and the veggie cousins)
- Bailemos salsa (Let’s salsa)
- Paso de nivel (Level up)
Mi Plato (MyPlate)
Ideal for: All level students.
The United States Department of Agriculture has a top website called MyPlate full of free resources for children of all ages. You can find coloring sheets, word games, quizzes, videos, and recipes related to nutrition in Spanish. You can use their search engine to find and filter the different resources available for parents and educators.
Spanish Food Choices
Ideal for: Middle school.
These worksheets available for download are ideal for beginner students who are learning how to talk about healthy food and nutrition in Spanish. The first part, encourages students to read sentences and play with verb conjugations and preferences. The second part, allows students to write about their healthy food choices in Spanish.
Spanish SuperMarket
Ideal for: Preschool.
Get the little ones interested in nutrition in Spanish with a game of Spanish supermarket! Print out our free template, and use this worksheet with illustrations to teach your students how to identify the different food groups individually following the descriptions you provide. Give a template to each of your students, have each one bring an example of each food group, and have them set up a supermarket around class. You can make it as each student is shopping for healthy foods. Compliment the terminology using our flashcards and include prizes to keep them motivated.
Start Talking About Healthy Foods and Nutrition in Spanish!
I hope after reading this blog post you feel prepared to introduce healthy habits and nutritious foods to children in Spanish. Feel free to come back to this list of vocabulary and activities whenever you need support on the subject.
Now if you’re looking to apply these new concepts related to nutrition in Spanish, I encourage you to sign up for a free trial class with our certified, Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala. At Homeschool Spanish Academy, we have over ten years of experience and teach more than 24,000 students each month. The lessons can be tailored to your needs and are guaranteed to improve the fluency of your kids, no matter what level they’re in.
Join one of the 40,000 classes that we teach each month and you can experience results like these
“HSA offers very affordable, quality, one on one classes with a native speaker. My son has greatly benefited from taking classes. We have seen his confidence increase as well as his pronunciation improve, because he learns from a native Spanish speaker. HSA has quick, personal customer service. I have appreciated the one on one interaction and teaching that my son gets from his teachers. He has gotten to know his teachers, which has increased his confidence in speaking Spanish. Our family has been very pleased with our experience so far!”
– Maple, Parent of 3
“My Son, Heath, is taking the classes. He’s been with Luisa the entire time and we absolutely love her. She is always patient and is a great teacher. Heath’s dad speaks Spanish so they get to have little conversations.”
– William R, Parent of 3
“It’s a great way to learn Spanish, from native Spanish speakers in a 1-on-1 environment. It’s been fairly easy to schedule classes around my daughter’s other classes. The best value for us has been ordering multiple classes at a time. All the instructors have been great!”
– Cindy D, Parent of 3
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