Spanish Books for Fall {for Kids}

{Affiliate links used.}

If you have been reading here for awhile you know that I have a vast collection of children's Spanish books. I collect books for the unit studies I do with my students. I have series of books {like the Froggy books or Oliver Jeffers' books} because they are favorites for my students. I also collect seasonal books. You can see my other posts for seasonal books with the links below...

Winter books

Spring books

Summer books

Here is a list of books to read during the autumn months to your students/children...

El Otoño -A simple book describing the many aspects of fall. There are a couple of activities in the back to do with kids.

Calabaza, Calabaza- The pumpkin life cycle in story form.

Chumba la Cachumba- I love this book because it is a traditional rhyme/song that introduces the concept of telling time. The illustrations of skeletons are humorous. A favorite!!

Froggy va a la escuela- Froggy goes to school.

Froggy y el Día de Halloween -Froggy's Halloween

Calabazas- A beautiful informational book on pumpkins.

Ana Cultiva Manzanas


La Calabaza Rodante- Let's try to catch the runaway pumpkin!

Murcielagos en la Biblioteca -Bats have storytime at night in the library. {This book is in my cart, ready for me to order soon! Can't wait!}

If you are looking for some fall activities or unit studies, check out these links...

Spanish Pumpkin Unit {Free printable}
Teaching Emotions with Pumpkins {Free printable}

Teaching Synonyms and Antonyms

{Affiliate Links used.}

I try to create a year-long unit of vocabulary words for my Spanish students to work on. Last year we did rhyming words. This year we will be working with synonyms and antonyms. Here's a look at what we will be doing with these words and a few children's book suggestions...

I have used these three sets of cards for the unit:

Synonyms in Spanish
Antonyms, Part 1
Antonyms, Part 2

There are several things that you can do with these cards:

-Memory

-Go Fish

-Lay the cards out on the floor.  Call out a card.  A student has to find that card and its mate {either synonym or antonym}.

-The Slapping Game (No slapping of each other!!): Lay out the cards on the floor.  Call out a word.  The first student to put their hand on the correct card gets to keep the card.  The goal is to have the most cards at the end.  You can vary this by calling out a word on a card, but they must slap the synonym or antonym for it.

-Lay out the cards and spell a word in Spanish (provided your students already know the letters) and see if they can find the card.  Then can they find the synonym or antonym and spell that for you?

-Use picture dictionaries like Everyday Words in Spanish . Call out a word and see if they can find it in the dictionary.

-For the antonyms: Call out three words in succession. Have your students say the opposites for them. For example, you say, "arriba, blanco, arriba". You students say, "abajo, negro, abajo".  Or you say, "corto mucho, gordo". Your students say "largo, poco, flaco". This activity is challenging so only use it once kids have mastered the words.

Here are some books that relate to opposites:

Opuestos-A simple opposites book for little ones.
Perro grande... Perro pequeño
Arriba y Abajo-The story of a penguin that wants to fly
Donde esta la oveja verde?
Cerdota Grandota-This is one of my favorite opposite books!

Do you have more teaching or book ideas for synonyms and/or antonyms? I would love to hear them!

Art and Speaking Skills in a Foreign Language Classroom {Free Printable}

{Affiliate links used.}

As a language teacher, any time you can mix culture with language skills you up the amount of learning in your lessons. Last year with one of my most advanced students I started printing off interesting pictures for us to discuss in Spanish. It then occurred to me that we could do the same activity with the great works from various Spanish/Hispanic artists. Not only will my students get exposed to beautiful artwork, but they will also be able to practice their speaking skills.

In order to set up this activity you need a set of questions you can use with any painting and copies of the art itself.  Below you will find a free printable in Spanish of questions you can ask your students in order to get them talking about different paintings. As far as collecting the art you want to use here are several options:

• Art Postcards can be used in small groups or in private lessons. Here are some collections for Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Diego Velazquez, Picasso, and Salvador Dali . 

• You can also use art books to show pictures. 

• You can print them from the web. Here is my pinterest board on teaching art and Spanish. It contains lots of paintings, and I plan on adding more. 

Here is a list of artists/paintings I am planning on using:

• Diego Velázquez {Las Meninas/Tres Músicos}
• Fernando Botero {La Menina,/Terremoto en Popayan}
• Alejandro Xul Solar {Cuidá y Abismos,/Vuell Villa}
• Joan Miró {La Finca,/Caballo, Pipa y Flor Roja}
• Pablo Picasso {El Guitarrista Viejo/La Sopa}
• Diego Rivera {Cargador de Flores/Zapata}
• Oscar Tintaya {More modern Bolivian artist with typical scenes of that area}
• Salvador Dalí {La Persistencia de la Memoria}
• Raúl Soldi {Sarita}
• Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida 

Here is the free printable with questions you can use to discuss the paintings.

Questions for Artwork

Have fun using art to keep your students speaking in Spanish!

Spanish Books for Summer {for Kids}

{Affiliate links used.}

Summer is almost upon us. I am looking forward to the warm days filled with sunshine. If you teach Spanish in any capacity to kids, one of the best ways is through children's literature. I have a huge collection of Spanish children's books that I use all the time with my younger students. Reading is such a great way for them to acquire new vocabulary and to improve their listening skills. Here is a list of books for your summer reading...


Salta y Brinca-Dancing frogs at the end of summer!

Una Isla Bajo el Sol - A boy traveling in a boat spies many objects through his spyglass until he reaches an island.

Plumas para almorzar-Backyard birds outwit a cat who ends up with only feathers for lunch.

Arandanos Para Sal-Sal picks blueberries and runs into a bear!

Vamos Froggy-Froggy books are great fun! In this one Froggy goes on a picnic with his dad.

Froggy Aprende a Nadar  -Frogs are supposed to be great swimmers, but froggy doesn't know how! In this story he learns the steps to great swimming and endures an embarrassing moment.

Hello Ocean/Hola Mar- A day at the beach filled with memories.

Si Quieres Ver Una Ballena- I love this sweet book on how to see a whale! See this post with activity suggestions.

¡Un Día Una Señora se Tragó una Caracola!-There once was a lady who swallowed a shell {and other ocean-y things!}

Looking for other seasonal books?

Winter Books
Spring Books
Fall Books

Also, check out these units that would go well with summer...

Las Plantas
La Selva
Las Piratas

Using Hidden Pictures in Language Teaching

{This blog uses affiliate links.}

There are times when as a teacher that you need to do a low-key activity to finish off a lesson, or you need to just spend some time review easier material after covering tough concepts. For the past few weeks I have been pulling out these pictures and using them to review vocabulary. I basically cut off the bottom where the words are {see above picture} then I call out a color and the item they need to look for. My students then color in the appropriate item. There are several resources from which you can pull pictures to use in this fashion. Here are a few:

Hidden Pictures in Spanish: Vocabulary Review for Beginners. {Pictured above}-This is the book that I have been using. The artwork is well done and the searching out of the items is challenging. My students have LOVED these. However, I have one complaint about it...There are a few pictures that I would not use with younger children because the have pictures of Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. They aren't overly scary and would be fine for older kids, but I am uncomfortable using them with young ones in case there is a sensitivity to images like that. What I do have to say about these pictures is that they are thematic, and I LOVE that. So, I can pull out the picture page on food and we can find all the hidden foods or if we are reviewing house vocabulary I can pull out the one that reviews those words.

Highlights Hidden Picture Books are another option. I recently bought one of them and will be using it soon. From what I can tell these aren't very thematic...more random things to find.

I love this picture {not a hidden picture activity, but more of an "I Spy" activity}-This picture actually works really well with young children after I have taught them all the rhyming words in Spanish. To see what I did for my rhyming words unit, click here.

Here is another set of "I Spy" type activities. They are set up in French but can be used for any language.

 If you know of other resources for hidden pictures or I Spy pictures please comment below as I am always on the lookout for more resources.

Plant Unit in Spanish {With Free Printables}

{This blog uses affiliate links.}

I am gearing up to do a plant unit this summer with some of my students. This unit is really going to focus on the parts of a plant and which parts we eat. We will touch on the life cycle of a plant and their needs (sun, water, soil, etc.). So here is a list of resources if you want to do a plant unit with your own students.

I love reading children's books in Spanish for each unit I do with my students. Some of the books I read can be informational, but I love reading stories that incorporate the theme we are studying. Here is a list of what we will be reading...

Como crece una semilla- A "Let's Read and Find Out" book on how seeds grow.

Arriba, Abajo y Alrededor  - This is a great book to teach/review the names of some vegetables and learn the three prepositions from the title. One of my favorites for younger kids.

La Gallinita Roja y la Espiga Trigo- A traditional story about how wheat grows to eventually be made into bread and how important it is to help others.

El Nabo Gigante-A hilarious story about a gigantic turnip.

El Flamboyan Amarillo-The story of a boy who grows a tree and gets a surprise!

La Semilla de Zanahoria-A classic story for younger kids about a carrot that takes forever to sprout.

El Ratoncito, La Fresa Roja Y Madura y El Gran Oso Hambriento-A little mouse tries to save a strawberry from a hungry bear.

Here is a list of other resources and activities I will be doing with my students...

One of the activities we will be doing is playing a "Collect It" game. I made the above labels with the different parts of a plant to display during the game. I then made little cards with different types of fruits and veggies on them. {You can find the pictures here.} Here is how you play...Make sure you have made enough cards so that each student that is playing can collect each part of the plant. For example: Radishes are roots, peas are seeds, etc. The goal is for each student to end up with six items each one representing the six parts of a plant. You can make a few extra cards if you like. You start playing by laying all the cards face down. Each student takes a turn picking up a card. If they need that card they lay it face up in front of them. If it is a duplicate part then they return the card and lose their turn. The first to collect the six parts wins.  NOTE: Some of the veggies can be tricky. For example, did you know that potatoes are actually part of the stem? And onions are actually leaves not roots even though we call them root vegetables? So make sure you know what is what before playing with the kids.

Pumpkin Life Cycle War Card Game-Anytime I teach a life cycle {like the life cycle of a plant} I teach/review the ordinal numbers. This game is great for this! I know it is in English, but I will use it to review Spanish vocabulary. When kids lay down their cards they will have to say the stage in Spanish or the ordinal number in Spanish {depending on how we decide to play that round.}

Fold and Learn Plant Parts {in Spanish or English}

Plant Unit in Spanish

Roll and Build a Flower Game-To review the parts of a flower

Finally, here is a printable that I give to my parents on what their children are learning. It is the basic vocabulary for the unit.

Las Plantas Vocabulary

Also, here is a file for the parts of a plant labels for the Collect It game...

Parts of Plants

Enjoy exploring plants with your students!

Spanish Books for Spring {for Kids}

{Affiliate links used. Thanks for supporting this blog.}

I love spring and the promise of warmer weather and growing green things out in the garden! When you live in Alaska spring holds a special place in your heart! So here is a collection of spring books to read to your kids/students in Spanish.  You can do all kinds of exploring with these books. Gardens, butterflies, and rain await you!

La Oruga Muy Hambrienta- A classic great for teaching the days of the week and food vocabulary.

El pollito que no quería salir del huevo- A cute book about a chick that doesn't want to hatch from his egg.

La Semilla de Zanahoria -Another simple classic about waiting for a carrot to pop up from the ground.

Como crece una semilla- A "Let's Read and Find Out" science book about how seeds grow.

Adivina Cuanto Te Quiero-A baby bunny wants to know how much he is loved.

Froggy al Bate- My Spanish students love Froggy books! Here is his adventure at bat.

¡Montones de mariquitas!- A counting book that teaches kids how to count by fives. You can use the story to practice counting by ones and fives.

Atrapados-We love Oliver Jeffers' books in Spanish around here! This is a comical story about a boy that gets his kite caught in a tree. What happens next is unbelievable!

Habia una vez una gota de lluvia and Habia una vez una semilla are two books I am going to be ordering soon to use during the spring months.

To see more spring activities for Spanish students check out these posts:

Insect unit
Ladybug unit
La Oruga Muy Hambrienta activities

Here is a plant unit that goes great with spring and/or summer!

Looking for other seasonal books?

Winter Books
Summer Books
Fall Books