¡A jugar juntos! - Let's Play Together!

Kids love to play, and playtime is the perfect opportunity to immerse them in Spanish! Engaging in fun, interactive games helps children learn naturally while building their vocabulary and confidence. Keep in mind that many classic games can be played in Spanish. No need to reinvent the wheel, as they say! This list is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it inspires you to try at least one and have some fun in Spanish together with your kids while walking, on car trips, on the playground, or at home!

Fun for on the go

• Luz verde, Luz roja (Red light, Green light)

This game is great for walking or playing on the playground. There’s plenty of possible variations that you can play and has a limited repetitive vocabulary for beginning learners as well. 

• For example:

  • Azul: Camina como un animal (Walk like an animal)

  • Rosada: Baila (Dance)

  • Morada: Cámara lenta (Slow motion)

  • Blanca: Salta (Jump)

  • Arcoíris: Lo que quieras (Whichever you want)

    
    

• Las grietas son lava (The cracks are lava)

A playful way to practice new vocabulary while walking! Change it up by declaring different objects as “lava,” such as:

• Las líneas (Lines)

• La sombra (Shade)

• El sol (Sun)

• La naturaleza (Nature)

• Las piedras (Rocks)

  
  

• Veo, veo con mi ojito… (I spy with my little eye…)

  • Kids find an object and name its color in Spanish. Veo veo con mi ojito algo rojo…

  •  It’s helpful if they have enough vocabulary to guess in Spanish about the things around them. If not, you can repeat them in Spanish and have them repeat. Is it that car? ¿Es ese carro? 

    
    

• Sigue el/la líder (Follow the leader)

  • Perfect for kids of any language level to play and enjoy, while still bonding and learning to follow rules and movements! You can call out what you’re doing in Spanish when you’re a leader to model as well!

    
    

Fun in the park or at home

• Pato, pato, ganso (Duck, duck, goose)

  • This is a nice game to get some running in and just a small bit of language 

  • You can also make up whatever you want - taco, taco, burrito, perro, perro, gato etc… 

    
    

• ¿Qué hora es/son, Señor Zorro? (What time is it, Mr. Fox?)

  • This is a great game for working on numbers and time telling expressions!

    
    

• El piso es lava (The floor is lava)

  • La lava sube, la lava baja

    
    

• Charades

  • This works great with any set of picture flashcards that can be acted out.

    
    

• Baile de congelados (Freeze dance)

  • Use any music en español or there are specific baile de congelados songs you can use!

    
    

• Dora Dice (Simon Says)

  • This is a great game that combines movement, vocabulary and careful listening skills. 

  • You can use specific body parts and/or action vocabulary etc...

    
    

Made up games with language focus

• Buscamos… (Look for…)

  • The idea here is to look for things of a certain color or that start with a certain sound or have a certain sound in them. Buscamos algo que empieza con "a"... Sí, árbol! This also works on vocabulary of nearby things and increases phonemic awareness when working with sounds.

  • You can also do a variation of this by looking for specific things  (houses, cars, flowers, anything etc…) in rainbow order (rojo, naranja, amarillo, verde, azul, morado). 

    
    

• ¿Cómo se dice ___ en español? (How do you say ____ in Spanish?)

  • This is just what it sounds like and also works well with a group of kids of mixed abilities. You can start by asking one yourself and then give kids turns to ask “¿Cómo se dice backpack en español?”. You can instruct the kids to try to expand or to go for simpler things depending on the ages and levels. 

    
    

• ¿Quién soy? ¿Qué es? (Who am I? What is it?)

  • This is a guessing game. This is intended as a phonemic awareness game, but could be done in various ways. For example “Adivina qué animal empieza con “o” (say the sound not the letter name)” 

    • If your kid guesses “gato” say, “gato empieza con “g”” Este animal empieza con “o”. If they say “oso” and it is, great! Say, “muy bien”. If not, say, “muy bien” y ¿qué otro animal empieza con “o”?.

  • Guess which color, which action, which piece of furniture, which natural thing, famous person etc… 

  • You can do it either as guess what it is or guess who I am.

• Trabalenguas (Tongue Twisters)

  • Here’s a list of the short and simple tongue twisters we use and you can, of course, make up your own! 

    
    

Literacy focused

• Dibujanario (Pictionary)

  • This can be played with picture/word flashcards of any kind. 

  • You can also have them write the word after it has been guessed to reinforce literacy skills. 

    
    

• El hombre colgante (Hangman)

  • This can also be supported with picture/word flashcards to give the kids ideas and make sure they’re spelling things correctly!

    
    

• Lotería (Bingo)

  • This has so many versions! It can be any kind of vocabulary or numbers or letters/sounds! 

    
    

Board games/Card games

• Mates de marisma (Sum Swamp) - Great for reinforcing numbers and building basic math skills in Spanish. (I did put little Spanish post-its over mine.)

  
  

• Outfoxed - A cooperative mystery game that encourages Spanish phrases. 

  
  

• Uno - Perfect for practicing colors and numbers.

  
  

• ¡A pescar! (Go fish!)

  • Alphabet Go Fish is how my kid finally learned letter names :). 

  • A pescar - my bilingual lowercase print-at-home version

  • Or a fantastic way to learn any Spanish vocabulary using a set of paired picture cards!

Incorporating Spanish into playtime makes language learning a fun and natural experience. These games work for various age groups and skill levels, making them perfect for bilingual families and Spanish learners alike. Try one today and watch your child’s Spanish skills grow through play!