Spanish for Kids: 5 Best Learning Ideas

There are many reasons for your child to learn a second language like Spanish. Children who are bilingual tend to have a greater understanding of the English language (or whatever their native tongue is) and a higher rate of comprehension overall.

They will have a better chance in the job market where knowing more than one language, especially Spanish, English or Chinese, is an asset. And familiarity with a foreign culture is an excellent way to expand their knowledge of the world.
Studies have shown that learning a second language by the age of ten is much easier than later in life.

But learning has to be fun! More so than for adults because kids are not keen about anything that resembles school. So make sure your child is not tired, sick or overworked; if you can make learning Spanish a game, your child will respond much more favorably. Kids learn by repetition in short spurts, so make sure they practice daily, but for no more than half an hour at a time.

Here are some ideas for helping your kid learn Spanish:

1. Educational video games. There are many websites that provide video games to help kids learn Spanish. Let’s face it – if a lesson looks like a video game, you will have no trouble convincing your child to play/learn! But even though it’s educational, be sure to limit your child’s time online, as staring at a computer screen too long can harm her eyes.
2. Online, software, DVDs. Any lesson that is interactive will help kids learn more efficiently as interaction keeps their attention. These methods include audio to hear pronunciation, visual to match word with picture, and written to cement words and sentences in their brain. These methods also allow the child to learn at her own pace.
3. Children’s books in Spanish. Even if your child is older, help them choose some kids’ books in the Spanish language from the library because their Spanish reading comprehension level will be lower at first. They can select a book translated from their own language that they are familiar with, comic books, or just any Spanish language childrens’ book. As their Spanish skills develop, they can move on to  entertainment magazines or young adult novels.
4. Spanish-speaking pen pals. Making the language personal is helpful for learning it. Reading a dry lesson in a text book is one thing, reading a personal letter from a new friend is a whole other thing. Eagerness to understand what is being written by your pen pal will increase your child’s ability, and discovering actual, used colloquialisms will make the language much more special.
5. Learning games. Many of the same Spanish learning games for adults can be used for kids; simply find or make easier versions with children’s themes. Some games include Memory Concentration where you flip over cards to find two matching words, Word Match where you match up a list of words with their corresponding pictures, and Plug-n-Play where you fill in the blanks of a paragraph with a list of the missing words.

Once your child has begun her lessons, the best way you can help her is to use simple Spanish with her in every day situations: count steps in Spanish when climbing stairs, name foods at the dinner table in Spanish, and point out colors in Spanish. Who knows? Maybe even you will start speaking Spanish…