11 Free ( Fun!) Resources for Teaching Spanish to Kids

11 Free ( Fun!) Resources for Teaching Spanish to Kids Suzy S. Are you a parent interested in teaching Spanish to your kids? Youve made a big but fantastic decision! Studies have shown the benefits of being bilingual in todays society; not only will you be making an impact on your childs communication skills and cognitive abilities, raising your child bilingual will help set him or her up for  success later on in life. Teaching Spanish to kids is easy if you speak the language yourself, but where do you start if you dont already speak it? Its a wonderful opportunity to learn Spanish at the same time as your kids (benefiting you both), but youll need to find the right resources to do so. And if youre on a budget? You might think it will be even harder after all,  Spanish-learning software can be expensive and weekly tutoring lessons might be too much of a commitment if youre not sure youll stick with it. Luckily, thanks to the Internet, its never been easier to teach a new language to your kids and yourself at the same time. To get a jump on bilingualism, hone your language skills with the following helpful resources. Spanish Learning Apps There are so many  apps to learn Spanish available these days and many of them are completely free. These apps can provide a great introduction to the language, and many of them have games that are fun for kids and adults alike. Here are some of our favorites: Duolingo Learn Spanish by MindSnacks Memrise Learn Spanish for Kids Bilingual Child Wikibooks If you dont have the money for Spanish textbooks, phrase books, and flashcards, dont worry. All of the same instructional benefits are available for free from Wikibooks, an open-source Wikimedia project designed to extend educational material to anyone willing to learn it. The websites Spanish section starts off with basic conversation and grammar lessons, which gradually increase in complexity over time. Spend an hour a day on Wikibooks lessons and you and your child will master basic Spanish conversations in no time. Spanish Learning Websites There are tons of fantastic websites that offer easy-to-follow lessons on vocabulary, grammar, and more. We love FluentU;  with your free account, youll get limited access to Spanish videos and clips, along with subtitles to help you learn how vocabulary and phrases come together in real-world contexts. Paid accounts for unlimited watching and listening start at $8/month. SpanishDict is another great website for teaching Spanish to kids, with more of a focus on vocabulary and grammar. The interactive flashcards make it fun to learn the words for  colors, clothing, numbers, and more! Finally, Spanish Playground is fantastic for kids who want a variety of activities here you can find ideas for games and crafts,  plus printable worksheets, videos, jokes, and much more! Online Spanish Learning Games After  youve done some studying, its time to take a break and play some games! Educational games and activities are wonderful for  reiterating and reviewing what youve learned. An awesome website to bookmark  is  Digital Dialects,  which is full of fun, easy-to-play games that teach Spanish grammar, vocabulary, and conversation skills. The games cover a wide range of topics, including greetings, colors, numbers, foods, units of time, animals, and clothing. The website also offers vocab lists and conjugation breakdowns to help children without prior Spanish experience. For a fun activity, hold contests with your kids to see who can win the most games. The more fun you have, the less of a chore studying will be and the quicker youll pick up the language! ¡Hola Viajeros! When  youve gotten the hang of reading Spanish, its time to start learning how to recognize the spoken language. ¡Hola Viajeros! provides a series of free audiobooks in slow Spanish along with transcripts. By listening to the audio while reading the transcripts, you and your children will quickly learn Spanish pronunciations, inflections, and other nuances. Best of all, these audiobooks are mostly devoted to describing Spanish-speaking countries, customs, and books, allowing you to learn about Spanish-speaking cultures as you learn the language. YouTube Once youve listened to all of ¡Hola Viajeros!s audiobooks, its time to move on to faster-paced Spanish audio. YouTube is great for this, providing a wide range of music videos, TV shows, and movies from Spanish-speaking countries. By watching YouTube videos in Spanish, youll get a sense of how the language is spoken in practice. You can also find a  ton of fun, silly  songs for teaching Spanish  that kids love! Another great idea is to find songs from the Spanish-language versions of Disney musicals. Your kids likely know the English lyrics to many of these songs by heart, so theyll already understand the gist of what the characters are singing about; this will make it easier to break down the meanings of the Spanish lyrics. As an example, heres the Spanish version of Let it Go from Frozen: Once your kids can understand Spanish-language Disney songs without too much trouble, move on to watching films, TV shows, and vloggers. You should have no trouble finding age-appropriate videos for teaching Spanish to kids. So Now What? When you are ready to  invest in your or your childs language mastery, make sure youre spending your money wisely by hiring a qualified  Spanish tutor!  As effective as these resources can be, theres no substitute for working one-on-one with a teacher who can  cater lessons to your specific learning style, and catch pronunciation mistakes that you might be overlooking. After all, these apps and website are all missing one crucial element: actual communication with other Spanish speakers! If youre serious about guiding your child toward bilingualism or securing your own fluency a tutor will help you get there. The money you spend on Spanish lessons is well worth the cost, as most experienced polyglots agree. And in between your lessons? Take advantage of all these free resources for teaching Spanish to kids, and everybody wins thats what theyre there for! Ready to get started? Search for a tutor here! Bonus:   Learn about other budget-friendly options for learning Spanish! Photo by  Jessica Lucia Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher