Spanish Tongue Twisters for Kids (Free Spanish Lessons)
Do you want to help your kids learn Spanish in a fun and entertaining way? Perhaps you just love to watch them learning while laughing and having fun. The problem is that sometimes learning Spanish might not seem so fun to them.
Today, I’ll show you how to keep your Spanish lessons entertaining by reciting funny tongue twisters for kids.
Whether your classes are for preschoolers or for older kids, tongue twisters are a simple and easy way to keep them engaged, smiling, and learning, all at the same time!
Explore more FREE SPANISH LESSONS FOR KIDS! ➡️
Enjoy over 70 unique lessons + free activity packets to download.
Can Your Children Learn Spanish Using Tongue Twisters?
In a word, yes! Tongue twisters are a fun way to learn new vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and think in Spanish without your kids even noticing it.
Are they going to learn Spanish just by playing tongue twister games? Of course not.
While using funny tongue twisters for kids is a helpful tool to learn the language that has several benefits, it’s much more powerful when combined with other tools and techniques that I’ll explore later in this article.
Benefits of Funny Tongue Twisters for Kids
Among the many language-learning techniques and tools teachers use, tongue twisters are certainly one of the less studied ones.
Even though tongue twisters have a long history of usage to help kids’ pronunciation in their own native languages, their use in language learning isn’t as extensive.
However, researchers have found that tongue twisters are “considered beneficial by the students, as they perceived that practicing tongue twisters cultivated joyful learning and helped them to improve their pronunciation, fluency, and motivation in learning.”
The researchers responsible for this study recommend using tongue twisters to “complement the use of repetition technique to enhance students’ learning experience and learning outcome.”
Last but not least, tongue twisters help you build your muscle memory and improve your Spanish pronunciation.
How to Learn Spanish With Tongue Twisters
In my classroom, I use tongue twisters as a fun activity meant for students to relax, forget about grammar rules, and help them to stop thinking about learning Spanish and just start thinking in Spanish.
I also choose specific tongue twisters to help students with the pronunciation of a specific sound or letter, usually the soft and hard R sounds.
I recommend creating your own children’s tongue twisters library and have them ready for when you may need them (I’ll help you with that in a minute).
Give your kids a tongue twister every week and help them practice until perfecting its pronunciation. Another way to approach tongue twisters is to bring one out when there’s a need for a fun activity, when you have just a few minutes left of class, or when you’re focusing on pronunciation.
Keep in mind that tongue twisters should be presented as a fun game, as a challenge for your kids, or even as a competition. That way, your kids will embrace the challenge and put forth their best effort.
Spanish Tongue Twisters for Children
Let’s start now with the tongue twisters library. I’ll start with short tongue twisters for kids that can be played at the kindergarten or at home, and then move onto simple and challenging tongue twisters of various types.
Easy and Short
The following is a collection of 6 of the easiest tongue twisters for kids in Spanish:
| Spanish Tongue Twister | English Translation |
| Como poco coco como, poco coco compro. | Since I eat few coconuts, I buy few coconuts. |
| A Cuesta le cuesta subir la cuesta, y en medio de la cuesta va y se acuesta. | It’s hard for Cuesta to go up the hill, and in the middle of the hill she goes and lies down. |
| Toto toma té, Tita toma mate y yo me tomo toda mi taza de chocolate. | Tito drinks tea,Tita drinks mateand I drink my whole cup of hot chocolate. |
| Si Pancha plancha con cuatro planchas,¿con cuántas planchas plancha Pancha? | If Pancha irons with four irons, with how many irons Pancha irons? |
| Teresa trajo tizas hechas trizas. | Teresa brought chalk sticks broken into pieces. |
| El ajo pico a la col la col pico al ajo ajo, col, caracol caracol, col, ajo. | The garlic sting the cabbage the cabbage sting the garlic garlic, cabbage, snail snail, cabbage, garlic. |
More Complex Tongue Twisters
It’s time to learn a few tongue twisters that are a bit more complex but still good for kids:
| Spanish Tongue Twister | English Translation |
| Con este dineroque traigo y que tengocompro la ropay las cosas que quiero, compro la ropacompro el roperocompro tinajasy al tinajero. | With this moneythat I bring and I haveI buy the clothesand the things that I wantI buy the clothesI buy the closetI buy jarsand the jars shelf. |
| Paco Pecochico ricoinsultaba como locoa su tío Federicoy este dijo: poco a pocoPaco Pecopoco pico. | Paco Pecorich kidinsulted like crazyhis uncle Federicoand the latter said: little by littlePaco Pecosmall beak. |
| Llaman bota a la botaque no botay al balón que sí botano lo llaman botaporque ya le llaman botaa la bota que no botacomo bota el balón. | They call boot to the bootthat doesn’t reboundand to the ballthat does rebounddoesn’t call it bootbecause they already called bootto the bootthat doesn’t reboundas the ball rebounds. |
Explore more FREE SPANISH LESSONS FOR KIDS! ➡️
Enjoy over 70 unique lessons + free activity packets to download.
Alliteration
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, alliteration is “the use of words that begin with the same sound near one another.” Some of the most famous tongue twisters are classic examples of alliteration.
| Spanish Tongue Twister | English Translation |
| TrTres tristes tigrestragaban trigo en un trigalen tres tristes trastos. | Three sad tigerswere swallowing wheat in a wheat fieldIn three sad plates. |
| CuCuando cuentes cuentoscuenta cuantos cuentos cuentasporque si no cuentascuántos cuentos cuentas nunca sabrás cuántos cuentos sabes contar. | When you tell storiescount how many stories you tellbecause if you don’t counthow many stories you countyou’ll never know how many stories you know to tell. |
| Q¿Cómo quieres que te quierasi al que quiero que me quierano me quiere como quieroque me quiera? | How do you want me to love youif the one I want to love medoesn’t love me as I want him/herto love me? |
| RrErre con erre cigarroerre con erre barrilerre con erre ruedan las ruedasdel ferrocarril. | R with r cigarr with r barrelr with r roll the wheelsof the train. |
| ÑCada vez que me bañome hago daño,por eso solo me bañouna vez al año. | Every time I take a bathI hurt myself,that’s why I only take bathsonce a year. |
| ClPablito clavó un clavitoen la calva de un calvitoen la calva de un calvitoPablito clavó un clavito. | Pablito nailed a nailon the bald head of a bald guyon the bald head of a bald guyPablito nailed a nail. |
| ChMaría Chuchena su choza techaba y un techadorque por allá pasabale dijo: Chuchena,¿tú techas tu chozao techas la ajena? | María Chuchenawas putting the roof of her hutand a roof workerthat was passing bytold her: Chuchena,do you put the roof of your hutor of another person’s hut? |
| JEn el juncal de junqueira Juncos juntaba JuliánCuando encontró a Juan.En el juncal de JunqueiraJuncos juntabanJuan y Julián. | In the reedbed of JunqueiraJulian was gathering reedsWhen he found Juan.In the reedbed of JunqueiraJuan and JulianGathered reeds together. |
Have Fun with Tongue Twisters and Learn Spanish
Learning Spanish is a process that involves many aspects, tools, and techniques. Learning and reciting funny tongue twisters for kids is an excellent way to help them improve their pronunciation and work with difficult words in Spanish.
Remember that by learning Spanish your kids will be able to talk to more people in the United States, as there are over 53 million people in the country who speak the language, with 41 million of them being native Spanish speakers.
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– Erica P. Parent of 1
“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!”
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