Meal Times and Habits (Free Spanish Lessons for Kids)
Meals in Spanish are an important event in Spanish-speaking countries. One of the many things we love about Latin America and Spain is the food.
Read this post for ideas on how to teach your kids about meals and food in Spanish and discover fun activities that you can try today!
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How to Teach About Meals in Spanish
Learning different meals in Spanish is an excellent topic to cover different food groups, colors, flavors, and more!
When teaching kids about meals, list the vocabulary words that you’re teaching so that the students can see and repeat them. Set goals so that you can reach them throughout the class and know exactly what you will teach.
Teaching your students or children about the three main daily meals in Spanish inspires them to pay attention to what they’re eating and learn Spanish in the process. If you can do this during mealtimes, even better. Practice makes perfect, so the more you expose your kids to Spanish vocabulary, the easier it’ll be for them to achieve fluency.
Meals in Spanish Vocabulary
Check out these useful meals phrases and vocabulary in Spanish.
| English | Spanish |
| Breakfast | El desayuno |
| Meal | La comida |
| Snack | La merienda, la refacción |
| Dinner or Supper | La cena |
| It’s delicious | Está delicioso |
| Spicy | Picante |
| Sweet | Dulce |
| Savory, salty | Salado/a |
| Dessert | El postre |
| Appetizers | Las entradas |
| Entree | El plato principal |
Conjugating Comer y Beber in Spanish
| Comer To eat | BeberTo drink |
| Yo como | Yo bebo |
| Tú comes | Tú bebes |
| Él / Ella Come | Él / Ella beben |
| Nosotros / Nosotras comemos | Nosotros / Nosotras bebemos |
| Ustedes comen | Ustedes beben |
| Ellos / Ellas comen | Ellos / Ellas beben |
Kids’ Meals in Spanish
The main meals in this section are perfect to prepare with and for kids. Latin America has a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that are affordable and that you can find at the local mercado (market).
The food you eat in Spanish-speaking countries can be as healthy or unhealthy as you choose it to be. Here’s a list of meals in Spanish to try out with your kids:
Breakfast Meals
1. Tigrillo – Ecuadorian casserole
Tigrillo is an Ecuadorian casserole-style dish that kids love because it has mashed green plantains, cheese, and eggs. Some versions of this meal include milk and chicharrones (fried pork rinds).
2. Majadito – Bolivian rice
Majadito is a Bolivian dish that consists of rice, chopped onions, tomatoes, and dried meat. This is a traditional dish from the pre-Columbian era. Kids love its flavor. Add any other vegetables that they like.
3. Arepa de huevo – Colombian egg filled tortilla
Arepa de huevo is a popular dish throughout Colombia and Venezuela. Corn arepas are filled with eggs, fried, and served for breakfast. Add some orange juice and kids will love eating this tasty desayuno.
4. Pan de queso – Cheese bread
Pan de queso is an extremely popular dish from Brazil. Kids love it for its tapioca flour and grated cheese. It’s a crowd pleaser that the whole family can enjoy.
5. Bollo – Colombian bun
Bollo or Pan Mojicón is a traditional Colombian bun made with yuca, potatoes, or corn. This bun is also popular in Spain and Panama. It is usually served for breakfast and accompanied by cheese on the side. Bollos can be bought from street vendors or in the supermarket.
Lunch Meals and Dinner Meals
1. Arepas
Arepas are eaten anytime. This delicious snack is usually made of corn or precooked corn flour. Kids love arepas, and they’re relatively easy to make and fill with any ingredient that they like. Kids love cheese arepas.
2. Pollo Tinga – Chicken Tinga
Mexico is all about tacos and enchiladas. Pollo tinga is a Mexican dish made with shredded chicken in a sauce made with tomatoes, onions, and chipotle. It’s usually served on a tostada with beans.
3. Pupusas
Kids love pupusas! It’s a corn flatbread from El Salvador filled with cheese, beans, pork, or other ingredients and topped with coleslaw and tomato sauce. Some people enjoy having fried yuca with their pupusas.
4. Empanadas Argentinas – Argentine Empanadas
An empanada is a turnover pastry that can be filled with anything you like. It can be baked or fried and is found in many parts of Latin America. Argentine empanadas are the most famous and delicious ones I’ve tried.
5. Cocido de Vegetales – Vegetable Stew
This delicious and healthy stew from Guatemala and Mexico has carrots, cilantro, squash, and potatoes. It usually has red meat but can also be made vegetarian. You boil it all together and eat it as a stew. It’s served with rice and corn tortillas. Kids like it with bread or a sandwich.
Desserts
1. Magdalenas – Cupcakes
Magdalenas can be baked as a cake or as cupcakes. They are light, fluffy, and often flavored with lemon or vanilla. People can eat them as a light dessert after a meal. Kids love these cupcakes! This recipe is easy for beginning bakers with ingredients that are easy to find at your local supermarket.
2. Mantecados o Polvorosas – Butter cookies
These traditional Spanish cookies are made with butter. They are delicate cookies with a soft anise flavor. Try making these delicious butter cookies at home.
3. El Flan – Flan
Flan is popular in Latin America and Spain. Depending on how authentic you’d like to be, you can make custard from scratch or get a box mix. Make individual servings of flan in miniature dishes.
4. Alfajores – Caramel Cookies
These traditional Argentine pastries melt in your mouth. They’re delicious round cookies filled with dulce de leche or caramel.
5. Pastel de Tres Leches – Three Milks Cake
Tres leches is one of my favorite Spanish cakes from Latin America. The three milks that this cake has are condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk.
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Meals in Spanish Activities
If you have a preschooler at home, you may want to review Spanish Food and Cooking Vocabulary. Also, check out this huge list of food vocabulary.
Enseñar y Contar – Show and Tell
Show and tell is an excellent way to motivate students. Have them choose their favorite meal and tell the rest of the class how to prepare that meal in Spanish.
If you’re doing this as a family, you can make the meals together. This is a fun way to get practice repetition of the food names as you ask and point to the ingredients.
Bendecir la Mesa – Saying Grace Before Meals
It’s common to teach kids to say grace and teach them how to be grateful for the food on our plates. Saying a prayer before meals is a wonderful practice of gratitude and appreciation for the food we get to enjoy.
Gracias señor por esta comida.
Thank you Lord for this food.
Gracias por juntarnos aquí hoy.
Thank you for bringing us together here today.
Bendice esta comida.
Bless this food.
Poner la Mesa – Set the Table
It’s important to teach kids how to poner la mesa (set the table). If you have older kids, make sure to teach them that los tenedores (forks) should go on the left on top of la servilleta (napkin), el plato (plate) in the middle, then el cuchillo (knife), with the blade in, to the left and la cuchara (spoon) goes to the right.
Have kids narrate what they’re doing in Spanish and practice saying the names of items in Spanish.
Talk About Meals in Spanish
This lesson is useful for kids of all ages! It’s great to get them excited about food and healthy eating. Talking about meals in Spanish is essential when learning a second language.
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“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. Our family has been very pleased with our experience so far!”
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